West Side Story, Gypsy, and the Art of

Broadway Orchestration

In this ground-breaking study, Paul Laird examines the process and effect
of orchestration in West Side Story and Gypsy, two musicals that were among
the most significant Broadway shows of the 1950s, and remain important in
the modern repertory. Drawing on extensive archival research with original
manuscripts, Laird provides a detailed account of the process of orchestration
for these musicals, and their context in the history of Broadway orchestration.
He argues that the orchestration plays a vital role in the characterization and plot
development in each major musical number, opening a new avenue for analysis
that deepens our understanding of the musical as an art form.
The orchestration of the score in Broadway musicals deeply shapes their final
soundscapes, but only recently has it begun to receive real attention. Linked by
a shared orchestrator, in other ways West Side Story and Gypsy offer a study in
contrasts. Breaking down how the two composers, Leonard Bernstein and Jules
Styne, collaborated with orchestrators Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal, and Robert
Ginzler, Laird’s study enables us to better understand both of these two iconic
shows, and the importance of orchestration within musical theatre in general.

Paul R. Laird is Professor of Musicology at the University of Kansas, where he

teaches courses on music history and the history of musical theater, and directs
the Instrumental Collegium Musicum. He has also co-written the second edi-
tion of Leonard Bernstein: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge) with
Hsun Lin.
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West Side Story, Gypsy,
and the Art of Broadway
Orchestration

Paul R. Laird
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Paul R. Laird
The right of Paul R. Laird to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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ISBN: 978-0-367-08615-2 (hbk)
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DOI: 10.4324/9780429023378
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Contents

Preface and acknowledgments vi

1 Introduction 1

2 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 4

3 West Side Story and Gypsy: Composers and orchestrators 43

4 Process and effect in the orchestration of West Side Story 76

5 Process and effect in the orchestration of Gypsy 135

6 Concluding thoughts: Orchestration and shared illusions 185

Copyright Acknowledgements 189

Index 191
Preface and acknowledgments

This project has been more than a decade in the making. It started as part of an
attempt to publish an orchestral score of Gypsy for a series of such Broadway
efforts, but that hope died on the rocky shores of securing the necessary permis-
sions and a publisher that lost interest when the company’s priorities changed. We
did, however, get to the point of assembling an orchestral score of the show from
a set of parts supplied by the Jule Styne Office. This score became a crucial source
for this study. My research on Gypsy and continuing work on Leonard Bernstein
and West Side Story finally led me to the possibility of interviewing Sid Ramin
(1919–2019) in 2012. I met this delightful, affable man and his wife Gloria in their
New York penthouse. We had a pleasant conversation and he shared some of his
treasured memories about his long friendship with Bernstein, his work on various
versions of the music from West Side Story, and on the orchestration of Gypsy,
most of which had been published in other sources. For more details, he referred
me to the manuscripts and kindly let me borrow a copy of his biographical film,
Sid Ramin: A Life in Music, that he had recently made. I appreciate deeply Mr.
Ramin’s interest in my work and the permission that I received from his son,
composer Ron Ramin, to reproduce in this book manuscripts from the Sid Ramin
Papers at Columbia University Archive.
As publication hopes for the Gypsy score faded, I became fascinated by the fact
that Sid Ramin worked on the orchestration for both West Side Story and Gypsy,
two of the era’s most innovative Broadway shows in terms of the sounds from the
pit orchestra. These scores also show a strong contrast in the processes of their
orchestration: Bernstein closely supervised Ramin and his partner Irwin Kostal on
West Side Story, while composer Jule Styne left Ramin and his associate Robert
Ginzler basically to their own devices in orchestrating Gypsy. This study includes
close consideration of what manuscripts from these two shows tell us about these
processes, offering a peek into the close and detailed collaboration that produces
the scores of Broadway shows.
While mulling over a book on the orchestrations in these two shows, I was
also advising a dissertation by Elizabeth Sallinger in which she made fascinating
contributions on how the orchestration in a number of shows assisted with charac-
terization.1 Her work inspired me to explore this parameter in West Side Story and
Gypsy, which turned out to be a rich line of inquiry that helps describe in concrete
 Preface and acknowledgments  vii
terms the importance of orchestration in Broadway musicals, especially those tell-
ing dramatic stories with multifaceted characters. I thank Elizabeth Sallinger for
inspiring these portions of my study.
One cannot work on a project for ten years without owing deep gratitude to
numerous people. My commissioning editor at Routledge, Genevieve Aoki, has
cheerfully answered many questions and showed helpful patience when my work
slowed as we moved my mother to Lawrence, Kansas, for the last 17 months of
her life. Jennifer B. Lee, Curator of the Performing Arts Collection at Columbia
University’s Butler Library, was an enormous help in gaining access to materi-
als and very kindly assisted me with obtaining representative scans of a second
set of Gypsy orchestral scores that only became available late in my work on
this project. Vanessa Lee assisted her in producing those scans at a time when
COVID-19 restrictions closed the archive to me. I am very grateful to both of
them. Mark Eden Horowitz, archivist for the Leonard Bernstein Collection at the
Library of Congress, has helped me with numerous projects and also provided a
great deal of useful advice for this one. I am also appreciative of the efforts by
various offices of the University of Kansas Libraries, especially in the acquisition
of interlibrary loan materials. Inés Thiebaut produced the full score to Gypsy from
a set of parts supplied by the Jule Styne Office, a tedious task that she did cheer-
fully. She responded to each of my editing suggestions, and I express my deepest
gratitude for her major role in this study. Inés was reimbursed for her time by Jule
Styne’s widow, Margaret Styne, who was enthusiastic about our hopes to publish
the score before other entities blocked the effort. The Styne Office also assisted
me by supplying other important sources, including a PDF of the Broadway script
and an audio recording of the entire production made on 25 March 1961, the last
night that Gypsy played on Broadway in its original run. I also thank Leslee Wood
for later entering some editorial changes into the computer files for the Gypsy
score.
John Graziano was instrumental in this project because he initiated the produc-
tion of the full score and asked me to serve as editor. John and his wife Roberta
have regularly welcomed me into their home for lodging and meals when I have
been in New York City for research. Graduate fellowships for doctoral students
in musicology at the University of Kansas provided timely research help from
Dorothy Glick Maglione, Sara McClure, and TJ Laws-Nicola. Mary Beth Sheehy,
writing a dissertation on Gypsy that I am advising, has given me the benefit of her
understanding of the show and suggested helpful sources. An important basis for
my work on this project is Steven Suskin’s ground-breaking book on Broadway
orchestration: The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators &
Orchestrations.2 Another leading scholar in the field is George J. Ferencz, author
of “The Broadway Sound”: The Autobiography and Selected Essays of Robert
Russell Bennett.3 I have appreciated my useful discussions with George over
the years. A number of other scholars—William A. Everett, Elizabeth A. Wells,
Gonzalo Fernández Monte, Katherine Baber, Jane Riegel Ferencz, Hsun Lin, and
Erica Argyropoulos—have been very helpful with discussions about orchestra-
tion, various Broadway shows, and other matters, demonstrating the wonderful
viii Preface and acknowledgments
fellowship that exists in our community of researchers. I appreciate the assistance
of Marie Carter and Hannah Webster of the Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc., Erin
Dickenson of Boosey/Concord, Jennifer B. Lee, and Ron Ramin in obtaining cop-
yright permissions for the volume. I thank Owen Hansen for preparing the index.
It is appropriate to mention some of the figures from decades ago who helped
start me on this path. My father, Robert K. Laird, loved Broadway shows and had
a large LP collection that fueled my initial interest in the field. I always loved
the sound of an orchestra, but that feeling crystallized under the influence of my
incredible high school orchestra director, Barbara Barstow, conductor of my first
pit orchestras for high school productions of Bye Bye Birdie and Guys and Dolls.
James W. Pruett, my dissertation advisor at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, taught a seminar on manuscripts that piqued my interest in archi-
val study. That course mostly had to do with early music, but it has been thrill-
ing to apply many of those same skills and techniques to manuscripts from West
Side Story and Gypsy. My mother, Mary Kathryn Laird, died in March 2020.
She shared with me her love for music and, along with my father, taught me the
importance of dedicating one’s life to learning and pursuing your passions. I share
my love for Broadway musicals with my daughter, Caitlin Laird, and her partner,
Martha Keslar. We have had many happy discussions of the topic, and I relish
their enthusiasm and how much I learn from them. My wife, Joy Laird, is my con-
stant inspiration and sounding board, a patient supporter of my life’s work. It is
to these four wonderful women—Mom, Caitlin, Martha, and Joy—that I dedicate
this book with love and respect.
Paul R. Laird
Lawrence, KS
12 March 2021

Notes
1 Elizabeth Sallinger, “Broadway Starts to Rock: Musical Theater Orchestrations and
Character, 1968–1975” (PhD dissertation, University of Kansas, 2016).
2 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
3 (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1999).
1 Introduction

In the profoundly collaborative world of musical theater, various elements brought

together to create a show have their moments of peak importance, when the audi-
ence becomes more aware of that aspect of the show. West Side Story, for exam-
ple, often features Jerome Robbins’s choreography, such as the dances in “Cool”
or the “Rumble,” when movement by the characters becomes the focal point on
stage and for that moment drives the plot and characterization. In Maria’s power-
ful speech from Arthur Laurents’s book in the last scene, the audience understands
the danger of hatred and what it has done to this young woman, who has lost her
lover. Laurents provided Maria’s dramatic monologue in a show dominated by
song and dance. Other moments in West Side Story when various theatrical ele-
ments come to the fore could be described, but this is a study of orchestration,
one of the more arcane elements in creating a musical, fully understood by few,
but playing a powerful role in how we experience shows. What might be the
peak moment for orchestration in West Side Story? There are numerous places
that one could cite in Bernstein’s powerful score, but the hope expressed in the
song “Somewhere” carries one of the show’s most important messages. The plot
has been paused for the dream ballet; at this moment Tony and Maria dance, and
a lone voice sings one of Bernstein’s most satisfying melodies. The lyrics elo-
quently establish that Tony and Maria will only be able to love each other without
consequences in another time and place. Bernstein provided the song with a con-
trapuntal accompaniment, bringing the orchestra into conversation with the voice;
the soprano sings the words, but in a musical sense the flute, violins, and cel-
los become almost as important as the voice when imitating what she has sung.1
In places, the accompaniment sounds like chamber music, with simple, sinuous
lines woven together, a magical moment where one voice and several instruments
carry the drama. Most examples of orchestration in West Side Story and Gypsy
described in this book are not quite so singular, but the aim herein is to place such
moments in high relief, demonstrating how the orchestration of each show was
realized and to describe those places where it especially helps further the plot and
informs the audience about situations and characters.
Chapter 2 presents the necessary context to approach the orchestrations for
West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959). Working from a list of important shows
of the 1950s, we consider the work of the most significant composers and lyricists

DOI: 10.4324/9780429023378-1
2 Introduction
and the continuing emergence of the musical play at a time when the musical
comedy remained a significant genre. A brief accounting of the musical styles
cultivated by Broadway composers in the 1950s helps demonstrate where our two
main shows fit into the decade. A concise review of some of the more important
lyricists of the 1950s shows how the work of Stephen Sondheim—lyricist for
both West Side Story and Gypsy—was both a continuation of efforts by some
of his predecessors as well as an original, new force in the genre. We then turn
to Broadway orchestrations through a description of how the craft had devel-
oped during the first half of the twentieth century, the varied ensembles used to
accompany different types of shows, how the pit orchestra changed in size and
instrumentation, the strengthening desire for orchestrations to reflect details of
the plot and characterization, and the most important figures in the field and how
they worked. Two of the most significant Broadway orchestrators of the 1950s
were Robert Russell Bennett and Don Walker, each described in separate sections
as models in the field. The chapter concludes with descriptions of representative,
contrasting orchestrations by Bennett and Walker from various shows, and finally
examples of work by the three main orchestrators considered in this book: Sid
Ramin, Robert Ginzler, and Irwin Kostal. Before working on West Side Story
and Gypsy, each man assisted Walker; representative songs orchestrated by each
figure have been drawn from the score to Wonderful Town (1953). These descrip-
tions of orchestrations of nine songs provide a varied, nuanced look at the craft
of writing for pit orchestras in the 1950s, sharpening our perceptions of what to
listen for in West Side Story and Gypsy.
Chapter 3 provides biographical backgrounds for the figures primarily respon-
sible for the orchestral scores of West Side Story and Gypsy: composers Leonard
Bernstein and Jule Styne and the orchestrators Ramin, Ginzler, and Kostal.
Bernstein’s life has been approached in detail by numerous scholars, and Styne
has been the subject of a biography and other, smaller studies. For the compos-
ers, we concentrate on their work in musical theater before the shows that are the
subject of this book. In Bernstein’s case, this will encompass three Broadway
shows, one opera, incidental music for two plays, and mention or brief considera-
tion of a few other compositions that reveal aspects of his work that bear stylistic
similarities with West Side Story. In addition to his songwriting, Styne also pro-
duced a number of Broadway shows; both activities increased his expertise in the
genre and will be described in this chapter. Among the three orchestrators, Ramin
worked on both shows, partnering with Kostal on West Side Story and Ginzler on
Gypsy. The biographical sections on these three figures include consideration of
their Broadway work along with their employment in other aspects of commercial
music, experiences that contributed to the expertise that they brought to show
music.
Chapters 4 and 5 include detailed descriptions of the processes of orchestration
for West Side Story and Gypsy and considerations of the role that the instrumen-
tal ensemble plays in each major number. The most important sources for these
chapters are the manuscripts, scores, and original cast recordings. Given the con-
trasting expertise of the two composers, the process of producing the orchestral
 Introduction 3
parts varied. For West Side Story, Bernstein supervised the process; the credit
line on the score reads “Orchestrations by Leonard Bernstein with Sid Ramin
and Irwin Kostal.”2 Like most Broadway composers, Styne was not capable of
orchestrating his show; he left the task to Ramin and Ginzler. Consideration of
the process for orchestrating West Side Story in Chapter 4 involves a study of
how Bernstein sometimes provided suggestions for which instrument should
play a line in his sketches of songs and subsequent piano/vocal scores, and writ-
ten evidence that one finds of his direct participation in drafts of orchestration.
In Chapter 5 on Gypsy’s orchestration, we study how Ramin was the leader in
orchestrating the show, noting comments and suggestions that he wrote in the
piano/vocal scores that they worked from and how he tended to write in the names
of reed instruments that would be played on each line, along with other evidence
of his controlling hand. Ironically, Ginzler worked faster than Ramin and it is his
hand that appears with more frequency in the orchestral partiturs. The second sec-
tions of Chapters 4 and 5 are detailed trips through the scores, noting intriguing
aspects of the orchestration of each song and how it contributes to plot develop-
ment and characterization.
This study is intended for anyone interested in the details of orchestrations
for West Side Story and Gypsy, or those more generally interested in Broadway
orchestration and its contribution to a show’s overall effect. Examples of musical
notation in the book are facsimiles of various types of scores related to the process
of writing for pit orchestras, useful for those who read music, but unnecessary for
understanding the study’s major points. Musical examples demonstrating how
the orchestra contributes to a number’s dramatic impact are aural, citing record-
ings with specific tracks and time indices provided. As will be shown, there are
tracks on original cast recordings with orchestrations that are different than what
sounded in the theater, but most of the songs on these recordings are as close as
we can get to an aural approximation of the scores prepared for the show. A copy
of a recording made of the performance on the last night that the original version
of Gypsy ran in New York before starting its tour—a very unusual source to have
for study—made possible some fascinating and definitive observations. An effort
has been made whenever possible to demonstrate what is most interesting about
what the orchestrators brought to a show, describing it in a way that furthers a
non-musician’s appreciation of the subject. Access to the recordings for readers
will be necessary to appreciate fully the musical descriptions in Chapters 2, 4, and
5; many of the tracks will be available on YouTube.

Notes
1 Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story, Original Broadway Cast
[1957] (Columbia CK 32603, 1973), CD, track 12.
2 Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Robbins, West
Side Story (New York: Jalni Publications, Inc./Boosey & Hawkes, 1994), [i].
2 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s

Introduction
How many of us have thought seriously about how much a pit orchestra influ-
ences our enjoyment of a musical? For the most part, we don’t see evidence of a
group of musicians except for the conductor, and our attention is drawn first to the
stage, but imagine what it would be like to have singers performing alone, with no
harmonic background or instrumental colors to provide their lines with full mean-
ing; dancers moving only with the counts they keep in their heads and in relation
to their colleagues; and changes of scene taking place in silence with no music
to conclude the previous scene or prepare the next. Even someone completely
unfamiliar with musical theater would know that such a production lacks a major
element. The addition of piano accompaniment would address some of these
problems, but it lacks the variety of colors and effects possible from an orchestra.
In our own lives we do not start singing when speaking no longer expresses the
intensity of our emotions, but in the imaginary, perhaps rarefied world of the stage
musical we demand that Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady should have an appropri-
ate, sung response like “I Could Have Danced All Night” to encapsulate her joy
in finally speaking her assigned phrases correctly, and that Eliza Hamilton should
express her profound sense of loss with melody as she disposes of her husband’s
letters in “Burn” from Hamilton. The first Eliza’s joy comes across powerfully
in the opening, short notes heard in flutes, violins, and perhaps harp, while the
second Eliza’s sorrow sounds poignantly in the stark harp arpeggios that open
the song, later transferred to piano.1 Substituting bassoon and bass clarinet for the
treble instruments in Eliza Doolittle’s song would sound ironic or even silly, as
would accompanying Eliza Hamilton with lush strings. A show’s orchestrations
are perhaps as important to its overall effect as actors, sets, dancing, or costumes,
and yet we mostly take what comes out of the pit for granted for two reasons: we
can barely see it and most audience members cannot musically describe what they
hear.
Orchestrators have not only learned how to use and combine instruments but
also what sound and effects will help manipulate an audience’s emotions. It is an
arcane field that few musicians even think much about, but fine songs and dance
music can be ruined by a poor arrangement. An orchestrator must know what

DOI: 10.4324/9780429023378-2
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 5
the highest and lowest notes are on each instrument, what types of musical ideas
sound effectively in each range, and what should be avoided unless one desires
a special effect derived from an unpleasant sound. Instruments can be played in
various ways to produce different colors (or timbres) of sound, or with special
techniques, like flutter-tonguing on flute or brass instruments, pizzicato (plucking)
on a string instrument, or especially wide vibrato on any number of instruments.
Brass and string instruments can also be muted, and an electric guitar, depending
on the model and what the player has added to it, is capable of numerous sounds
and effects. Synthesizers add another, complicated dimension to these possibili-
ties, and orchestrators often consult with experts to decide upon their use. The
orchestrator for musical theater needs to understand all of these possibilities and
how to combine various instruments to evoke a specific type of an ensemble, like
a swing band or symphony orchestra. There also are those situations where the
orchestra needs to produce an unusual sound, when the imaginative orchestrator
conceives an original combination of timbres and effects. We will encounter sev-
eral such instances in our study of orchestrations for West Side Story and Gypsy.
The most significant study of Broadway orchestration is Steven Suskin’s
The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators & Orchestrations,2 an
examination of the craft’s process and most important figures in the field between
the 1920s and 1980s. Suskin concentrates on the period of Broadway history
dominated by the “Great American Songbook,” a style important in American
popular music from the 1910s to the 1950s and that remained significant in many
Broadway musicals beyond that point. One thinks of such songwriters born in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as Jerome Kern, George Gershwin,
Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, then the next generation that included Leonard
Bernstein and Frank Loesser, and finally even younger figures who maintained
aspects of these traditions, including Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Jerry
Bock, and others. Starting in the later 1960s, rock and other forms of more recent
popular music finally made it to Broadway, forever changing the sound of the
American musical theater, but Suskin spends little time on this development. He
focuses firmly on such important orchestrators as Robert Russell Bennett (1894–
1981), Robert “Red” Ginzler (1910–62), Irwin Kostal (1911–94), Sid Ramin
(1919–2019), Hans Spialek (1894–1983), Don Walker (1907–89), and others.
Suskin considers the industry in which these figures worked, the instruments that
they wrote for and their usual uses, the realities and conditions of their work, and,
if applicable, the type of arrangements for which each orchestrator became most
recognized. Suskin also provides data concerning the orchestration of hundreds
of shows, including rich details concerning West Side Story and Gypsy. Suskin’s
volume serves as the launching point for this book, which approaches in greater
detail the work that composers Leonard Bernstein and Jule Styne and orchestra-
tors Irwin Kostal, Red Ginzler, and Sid Ramin did on these two significant scores
from the late 1950s. Suskin occasionally approaches how orchestration contrib-
utes to characterization and dramatic effect in shows, a topic investigated in detail
here in Chapters 4 and 5. This is an area of study ripe for investigation throughout
the history of American musical theater because it helps show the true importance
6 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
of the craft of orchestration and what it contributes to the overall effect of a par-
ticular song or show.

Broadway in the 1950s

The “Golden Age”
The 1950s fall within what has unfortunately become known as the “Golden Age”
of the American musical theater, that period between Oklahoma! (1943) and
Fiddler on the Roof (1964) when the musical play, based on models of Rodgers and
Hammerstein, had its period of greatest importance. As Larry Stempel has stated,
our perception of this period developed “largely because much the finest work of
the era found through the example of Rodgers and Hammerstein its own way of
reconfiguring the world of musical comedy into that of musical theater.”3 Whether
one calls it the rise of the “musical play” or “musical theater,” a strong development
in the period is placing the methods and expectations of the American musical at
the service of more serious story lines. The moniker “Golden Age” does disservice
to other eras in which audiences have been entertained by equally fine efforts. That
such outstanding shows as Show Boat (1927), Of Thee I Sing (1931), Lady in the
Dark (1941), A Chorus Line (1975), Rent (1996), and Hamilton (2015) appeared
outside the so-called “Golden Age” should once and for all shelve that appellation.
To build a context for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959), we will look
at shows of the 1950s to appreciate the contemporary expectations for the genre.
While it is true that a number of fine shows from the decade continue to be per-
formed, there were several seasons during the 1950s when Broadway audiences
saw a disappointing number of new shows and few of distinction. For exam-
ple, Gerald Bordman has stated that in the 1951–52 season that the genre “sank
to an abysmal state.”4 He observes that during that decade seasons seemed to
alternate between “feast and famine.”5 The number of shows that opened each
season tended to be smaller than in the first half of the century, especially before
the Depression. The number of “new lyric pieces” reached an all-time high in
the 1928–29 season with either 51 or 53, depending on how one counts them.6
However, in 1951–52, there were only nine new musicals—the smallest number
so far in the twentieth century—and two of them were Yiddish revues that were
not usually seen in legitimate theaters.7 Other seasons during the decade with
a disappointing number of new musicals included 1953–54 with 9, including 3
that featured a single performer; 1955–56 with 3 revues and 5 book shows; and
1958–59 with 12 new shows, but only 2 commercial successes.8 The season of
1954–55, however, included 12 new book shows and 21 with strong musical con-
tent, including revues and revivals.

A representative list of 1950s musicals

Raw numbers only illuminate part of the story, because there were somewhere
over 30 new book shows during the decade that were indeed strong entries. As
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 7
the decade opened, South Pacific entered the tenth month of its long run and won
the 1950 Tony for Best Musical. A list of significant shows (including the number
of performances and each year’s Tony winners for Best Musical) from between
the 1950–51 season to the end of 1959, selected for their importance at the time
and including shows that were not at first successful but have remained in the
repertory, includes:

Call Me Madam—premiered 12 October 1950 (644 performances)—music and

lyrics by Irving Berlin
Guys and Dolls—24 December 1950 (1,200, 1951 Tony)—music and lyrics by
Frank Loesser
The King and I—29 March 1951 (1,246, 1952 Tony)—music by Richard Rodgers,
book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Wish You Were Here—25 June 1952 (598)—music and lyrics by Harold Rome
Wonderful Town—25 February 1953 (559, 1953 Tony)—music by Leonard
Bernstein, book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Can-Can—7 May 1953 (892)—music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Me and Juliet—28 May 1953 (358)—music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics
by Oscar Hammerstein II
Kismet—3 December 1953 (583, 1954 Tony)—music from Alexander Borodin,
music adapted and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest
The Threepenny Opera—10 March 1954 (2,611)—music by Kurt Weill, origi-
nal text by Bertolt Brecht, English adaptation of book and lyrics by Marc
Blitzstein
The Pajama Game—13 May 1954 (1,063, 1955 Tony)—music and lyrics by
Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
The Boy Friend—30 September 1954 (485)—music, book, and lyrics by Sandy
Wilson
Peter Pan—20 October 1954 (152)—music by Mark Charlap, lyrics by Carolyn
Leigh, additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, additional
music by Jule Styne
Fanny—4 November 1954 (888)—music and lyrics by Harold Rome
Plain and Fancy—27 January 1955 (461)—music by Albert Hague, lyrics by
Arnold B. Horwitt
Silk Stockings—24 February 1955 (478)—music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Damn Yankees—5 May 1955 (1,019, 1956 Tony)—music and lyrics by Richard
Adler and Jerry Ross
Pipe Dream—30 November 1955 (246)—music by Richard Rodgers, book and
lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
My Fair Lady—15 March 1956 (2,717, 1957 Tony)—music by Frederick Loewe,
book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Mr. Wonderful—22 March 1956 (383)—music and lyrics by Jerry Bock, Larry
Holofcener, and George Weiss
The Most Happy Fella—3 May 1956 (676)—music, book, and lyrics by Frank
Loesser
8 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
Li’l Abner—15 January 1956 (693)—music by Gene de Paul, lyrics by Johnny
Mercer
Bells Are Ringing—29 November 1956 (924)—music by Jule Styne, book and
lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Candide—1 December 1956 (73)—music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Richard
Wilbur and John La Touche
New Girl in Town—14 May 1957 (431)—music and lyrics by Bob Merrill
West Side Story—26 September 1957 (732)—music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics
by Stephen Sondheim
Jamaica—31 October 1957 (558)—music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E. Y.
Harburg
The Music Man—19 December 1957 (1,375, 1958 Tony)—music, book, and lyr-
ics by Meredith Willson
Flower Drum Song—1 December 1958 (600)—music by Richard Rodgers, book
and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Redhead—5 February 1959 (452, 1959 Tony)—music by Albert Hague, lyrics by
Dorothy Fields
Destry Rides Again—23 April 1959 (473)—music and lyrics by Harold Rome
Once upon a Mattress—11 May 1959 (460)—music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by
Marshall Barer
Gypsy—21 May 1959 (702)—music by Jules Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Take Me Along—22 October 1959 (448)—music and lyrics by Bob Merrill
The Sound of Music—16 November 1959 (1,443, tied for 1960 Tony)—music by
Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Fiorello!—23 November 1959 (795, tied for 1960 Tony)—music by Jerry Bock,
lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

As one can see, the musical play does not completely dominate the 1950s; musi-
cal comedy was far from dead with Call Me Madam and Guys and Dolls at the
beginning of the decade, The Boy Friend and Li’l Abner in the middle, Take Me
Along and Once upon a Mattress at the end, and numerous others in between.
The songs and dances in these shows were usually better integrated with the
plot than had been the case in the 1920s and 1930s—as may be seen, for exam-
ple, in Guys and Dolls and The Music Man—but the situations were light, the
jokes numerous, and many of the songs were funny. Shows with serious stories
that included light moments make up another distinctive group, including such
titles as The King and I, Pipe Dream, Jamaica, Gypsy, The Sound of Music,
and Fiorello!. The only true tragedy in the list is West Side Story, that based
on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Audiences in the 1950s spent money on
musical plays, but they desired light moments and characters in those shows.
West Side Story was an outlier: there are no characters present only for comic
relief and the ending offers little hope. The second group of shows named above
each include intentional amusement: The King and I and The Sound of Music
are full of children who provide whimsy and cuteness; Pipe Dream involves the
largely unthreatening denizens of Cannery Row and such jaunty songs as “Sweet
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 9
Thursday”; Jamaica balances its conflicts with such comic songs as “Push de
Button” and “Napoleon”; while Gypsy and Fiorello! each include musical com-
edy characters and moments in the midst of their serious stories. The recipients
of the Tony Awards for Best Musical during the decade also tend to show the
continuing importance of comedy in the genre, including more musical comedies
between 1950 and 1960: Guys and Dolls, Wonderful Town, Kismet (billed as a
“musical” but with a strong comic component), Pajama Game, Damn Yankees,
Redhead, and The Music Man. The musical plays that won the Tony included
South Pacific, The King and I, My Fair Lady, and Fiorello!, each including some
comedy and spectacle.
My Fair Lady is one of several shows on the list that stand out as unusual. Its
creators drew on multiple genres from musical theater: a serious story that includes
musical comedy characters like Alfred P. Doolittle and Freddy Eynsford-Hill; a
plot that offers pithy commentary on class and gender; a score with several songs
like those of an operetta written for a trained voice, especially Eliza Doolittle’s
numbers; and a setting outside of the United States, not unlike numerous operet-
tas. There are other unusual shows in this list that demonstrate the period’s variety
in Broadway musicals. Whereas musical comedies usually took place in contem-
porary America, Cole Porter’s Can-Can depicts nineteenth-century Paris. Kismet
was both a dark comedy and romance based upon Edward Knoblauch’s 1911 play
by the same name with an operetta-like score mostly arranged from the output
of the nineteenth-century Russian composer Alexander Borodin. Nothing in the
New York theater could have been stranger than the long run of The Threepenny
Opera starting during the McCarthy Era, a profoundly leftist show that played at
the Theatre de Lys in the West Village south of the theater district. Marc Blitzstein
prepared a splendid new translation, and this storied work became better known
to American audiences. The Boy Friend, which introduced Julie Andrews to
American audiences, was a British show that spoofed musicals of the 1920s. Mr.
Wonderful was unusual because it starred the multitalented African American
performer Sammy Davis, Jr. along with his father and uncle, the three members
of the Will Mastin Trio. It managed to run for a year but did not repay its inves-
tors.9 Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella pushed the envelope on Broadway
given its lengthy score and the operatic nature of some of that music with the
lead baritone being Robert Weede, who sang often at the Metropolitan and New
York City Opera. Candide, a costly failure in its first run, was famous because
of Bernstein’s delightful, operetta-like score, and it became better known later
in different versions. New Girl in Town was an adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s
play Anna Christie, a most unusual source for a musical play, but it achieved a
degree of popularity with the charm and dancing of star Gwen Verdon. Rodgers
and Hammerstein were never afraid to venture to exotic places for their shows,
including with Flower Drum Song’s placement in the Chinese community in San
Francisco, but the score was recognizably from their pens and the show touched
on themes common in their other musical plays. The variety of the five shows that
Rodgers and Hammerstein opened during the 1950s was striking, a testament to
the pair’s restless creativity.
10 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
Generations of creators, musical styles, and lyrics
The list presents writers that in the 1950s ranged in age from their 60s (such as
Irving Berlin, b. 1888) to their 20s (Stephen Sondheim, b. 1930). Berlin, Cole
Porter, E. Y. Harburg, and Oscar Hammerstein II were nearing the end of their
careers in the 1950s, but Richard Rodgers (b. 1902) continued to write shows until
his death in 1979. Frederick Loewe (b. 1901) and Meredith Willson (b. 1902)
were from the same generation, but their Broadway careers did not begin until
the 1940s and 1950s, respectively. Harold Arlen, Jule Styne, and Harold Rome,
slightly younger than Rodgers, began their Broadway careers in the 1930s or
1940s, Styne not arriving in the New York theatrical world until after World War
II following previous work in Hollywood. The list includes a number of writers
born about the time of World War I who began their Broadway careers in the
1940s: Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Alan
Jay Lerner, Robert Wright, and George Forrest, among others, most of whom
remained active for decades after the 1950s. Slightly younger were Albert Hague,
Bob Merrill; such teams as Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Jerry Bock and Sheldon
Harnick; and Sondheim and Mary Rodgers. Several of these figures pursued the-
atrical careers that continued for a half-century after the 1950s.
Not surprisingly, these composers and lyricists who collectively worked on
Broadway from the 1910s (Berlin, Porter, and Hammerstein) until the 1990s and
beyond (Sondheim, Styne, and others) produced scores encompassing a wide vari-
ety of musical and lyrical styles. The scores of West Side Story and Gypsy—both of
which include a variety of styles—fit comfortably into the decade, as may be seen
through a small survey of some of the period’s more famous scores. The “Great
American Songbook” style from previous decades sounds prominently from older
composers in such shows as Berlin’s Call Me Madam, Porter’s Silk Stockings, and
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet, while numerous younger songwriters
also used it, such as Adler and Ross in both Pajama Game and Damn Yankees,
and Loesser in Guys and Dolls and portions of The Most Happy Fella. Various
types of numbers are expected in such scores, including waltzes, marches, ballads,
and fox-trots. The sounds of opera and operetta are prominent in The Most Happy
Fella, Bernstein’s Candide, and Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady. Willson’s
score to The Music Man is a tour of musical styles from the early twentieth
century, including the march, waltz, ragtime, and barbershop, the final genre a
very unusual touch for a Broadway score. A ragtime-like number also occurs in
Redhead in the form of “The Uncle Sam Rag.” Jazz sounds had become increas-
ingly important in the Broadway musical since the 1920s and figured prominently
in several of these shows. Bernstein might have encompassed the widest styles of
jazz by making prominent use of swing in Wonderful Town (“Swing”) and then
cool jazz and bop in West Side Story (“Cool”). Written three decades before in
Germany, Weill’s music for The Threepenny Opera includes jazz sounds from the
1920s. Various jazz references appear in arrangements of popular tunes by several
composers in the Will Mastin Trio’s act in Mr. Wonderful, especially “Sing, You
Sinners” and “Because of You.” Many numbers from the decade included tropes
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 11
from swing jazz, such as “Steam Heat” from The Pajama Game and “Ain’t It
the Truth” from Jamaica. Music associated with burlesque included references
to early jazz, heard in profusion in Gypsy. Numbers based on various types of
jazz often include blues references. Bernstein made blues references in two of
his shows from the 1950s, for example, in “One Hundred Ways to Lose a Man”
and in Wonderful Town and an instrumental “Blues” that opens the “Dance at
the Gym” in West Side Story. The latter example sounds a bit like 1950s rock-
and-roll, a style seldom heard on a Broadway stage before a few numbers in Bye
Bye Birdie (1960), and not as a dominant style in a show until Hair (1968). Two
other songs from the 1950s that bow towards the blues include “Two Lost Souls”
from Damn Yankees and “Birth of the Blues” from Mr. Wonderful, numbers that
include melodic and harmonic gestures associated with the blues and often jazzy,
swinging eighth notes, and lyrics that reference the genre.
In the 1950s, various types of Latin music remained significant in American
popular culture, heard often in jazz, dance music, and at different levels of pen-
etration and importance in popular songs. The varying significance that Latin ele-
ments might have in a song can be appreciated in West Side Story, where describing
“America” is unthinkable without mentioning Puerto Rican and Mexican influ-
ences, while “Maria” is a fairly traditional Broadway ballad with the bass line
featuring a distinctive tresillo (3+3+2), or rumba rhythm. West Side Story is
perhaps the Broadway show from the 1950s with the most Latin musical influ-
ence, but many composers made such references, especially to the tango, conga,
mambo, and cha-cha. A short list of such numbers would include: “Who’s Got
the Pain?” (mambo) and “Whatever Lola Wants” (tango) from Damn Yankees,
“I Am So Easily Assimilated” (tango) from Candide, “Mu-Cha-Cha” from Bells
Are Ringing, “No Other Love” (tango) from Me and Juliet, and the “Pick-Pocket
Tango,” an instrumental piece from Redhead. In Jamaica, composer Harold Arlen
introduced Caribbean tropes in several songs, including “Monkey in the Mango
Tree” and “Push de Button.”
Country music is not a style that appeared often on Broadway in the 1950s,
but there were song placements in some plots where it made sense to evoke the
genre. Li’l Abner’s score, for example, would sound unconvincing without coun-
try music tropes. The show’s lyrics, by Johnny Mercer, were presented in the rural
dialect that Al Capp used in his comic strip, and composer Gene de Paul’s music
for such numbers as “The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands” and “I’m Past My
Prime,” while probably not appropriate for the Grand Ole Opry, approach country
music in style. Adler and Ross included songs bearing varied influences in their
scores, and on the country-western side they wrote “There Once Was a Man” for
The Pajama Game and “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.” for Damn Yankees.
As is the case in Li’l Abner, the lyrics of these songs include knowing moments
where the singers seem to be winking at the audience, which knows that they are
in New York City, and, while enjoying the number, there is also perhaps a patron-
izing feeling towards other areas of the United States. Another such number is
“Ohio” from Wonderful Town, where the sisters Ruth and Eileen are homesick for
a place—Columbus, Ohio—that many New Yorkers unfairly would have thought
12 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
of as “the sticks.” Harold Rome made use of country and western tropes in Destry
Rides Again, heard in such tunes as “Ballad of the Gun” and “Once Knew a Fella.”
When considering the importance of lyrics in setting the tone for songs like
“I’m Past My Prime” and “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.,” one realizes how
strikingly significant lyrics are to the success of a Broadway musical, but they
are less crucial to the show’s immediate appeal than some other elements. Music
must be immediately accessible to work in the musical theater; audiences have
little patience with sounds that they cannot understand on first hearing. Lyrics,
however, can be hard to comprehend at a performance, even with the best inten-
tions from the singers, especially when the words carry multiple layers of mean-
ing. Rare is the critic who says anything truly useful about lyrics when reviewing
a new show. One often learns a show’s lyrics through repeatedly listening to the
original cast album. In the 1950s there were numerous memorable lyricists work-
ing in the musical theater, including Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, E. Y. Harburg,
Oscar Hammerstein II, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Alan Jay Lerner,
and Stephen Sondheim, among others. Berlin, who wrote the score for Call Me
Madam, was known for his direct, memorable words based on everyday language
and clean rhymes, contrasting strongly with Porter’s slick phrases and compli-
cated rhymes, imaginative references and lists, and frequent use of double-enten-
dres, heard, for example in Silk Stockings. Harburg’s lyrics heard, for example,
in Jamaica, ranged from the beautifully picturesque to politically provocative,
sometimes with an emphasis on outrageous rhymes involving made-up words.
Hammerstein emphasized simple, accessible imagery with an uncomplicated
vocabulary that captured common feelings, part of the universality many appreci-
ated in shows that he wrote with Rodgers. Comden and Green were a versatile
team, capable of witty rhymes, delightful humor, and memorable lists, as well as
evoking deep emotions when working during the 1950s with a variety of musical
collaborators, including Bernstein (Wonderful Town) and Styne (Peter Pan, Bells
Are Ringing, and other shows). Lerner was another multifaceted lyricist, writing
fitting, surprising words for songs with precise rhymes but also the depiction of
honest emotions, both of which are on display in My Fair Lady. A new, powerful
lyrical voice appeared towards the end of the decade: Stephen Sondheim, who
wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy before working as a composer/lyri-
cist. Sondheim was ready in his 20s to contribute at a high level with the likes of
Bernstein and Styne, proving to Bernstein by the end of their collaboration that he
deserved full credit for the lyrics and not just the line “co-lyricist,” and inspiring
Styne to write songs for Gypsy that profoundly served the show’s characterization
and dramatic situations. In just these two shows Sondheim showed his virtuosity
as a rhymer, as a painter of emotions able to work without rhyme, and in describ-
ing varied sides of complicated characters like Rose and Louise in Gypsy. In a
decade when Broadway audiences often experienced excellent lyrics in a variety
of styles, Sondheim brought it to a fascinating close.
Any consideration of the Broadway musical in the 1950s would be incom-
plete without remembering the stars who strode across the stages, including, for
example, Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam, Happy Hunting, and Gypsy; Stubby
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 13
Kaye in Guys and Dolls and Li’l Abner; Yul Brynner and Gertrude Lawrence in
The King and I; Shirley Booth in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, By the Beautiful
Sea, and Juno; Rosalind Russell in Wonderful Town; Edie Adams in Wonderful
Town and Li’l Abner; Gwen Verdon in Can-Can, Damn Yankees, New Girl in
Town, and Redhead; Alfred Drake in Kismet; Mary Martin in South Pacific, Peter
Pan, and The Sound of Music; Julie Andrews in The Boy Friend and My Fair
Lady; Ezio Pinza in South Pacific and Fanny; Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady;
Sammy Davis, Jr. in Mr. Wonderful; Judy Holliday in Bells Are Ringing; Barbara
Cook in Flahooley, Plain and Fancy, Candide, The Music Man, and revivals of
Oklahoma! and Carousel; Lena Horne in Jamaica; Robert Preston in The Music
Man; Pat Suzuki in Flower Drum Song; Andy Griffith in Destry Rides Again; and
Carol Burnett in Once upon a Mattress. We can still experience aspects of these
performances on audio recordings and what video is available.

Orchestration in the 1950s

Antecedents, economics, and realities
The vast majority of Broadway shows have been orchestrated by specialists who
might also use their talents to serve radio, television, films, and the recording
industry. A number of these musicians have also been composers and/or perform-
ers. The only Broadway composers that arranged their own scores with any fre-
quency were Victor Herbert, Kurt Weill, and Leonard Bernstein, each also known
to have written operas and instrumental music. George Gershwin orchestrated
his own concert works starting with his Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra
(1925), but he orchestrated little for musical theater until he composed Porgy and
Bess (1935); opera composers usually execute their own orchestrations. In most
projects involving commercial music, however, arranging music for a designated
ensemble is the task for someone capable of providing a full score of a song or
short dance within a matter of hours.
By the 1950s the role of the Broadway orchestrator was well defined, but dur-
ing that decade the way the work got contracted and paid for started to change, as
will be described below. Max Dreyfus (1874–1964) gained control of the music
publisher T. B. Harms & Co. early in the twentieth century. In 1903 he hired com-
poser Jerome Kern, who later became a partner in the firm. Dreyfus understood
the importance of commercial music being made available in arrangements for
such venues as theaters and restaurants and made that part of his business model,
assigning songwriters and arrangers to work together. The orchestrator Frank
Saddler worked with Kern early in his career and, as Suskin notes, “the pair pio-
neered a new style of theatre orchestration in which the orchestration commented
upon and enhanced the music.”10 Dreyfus hired George Gershwin as a songwriter
in 1918 and brought Richard Rodgers aboard in the 1920s.11 Dreyfus sold Harms to
Warner Bros. in 1929, remaining a consultant until 1935, when for the same kind
of work he set up an American branch of the British music publisher Chappell, of
which his brother Louis Dreyfus (1877–1967) was president. In addition to Kern,
14 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
Gershwin, and Rodgers, Dreyfus worked with Sigmund Romberg, Cole Porter,
Frederick Loewe, Jule Styne, Kurt Weill, and others,12 giving him an interest in
many Broadway works through the 1950s.
As for orchestrators, in 1919 Dreyfus moved Robert Russell Bennett from
working on nontheatrical scores to supervising the Broadway work. Hans Spialek
joined Harms in 1924, with Don Walker coming into Dreyfus’s employment in
1934 and Ted Royal in 1936.13 If a producer hired one of the composers whose
music Dreyfus published, his firm owned the score’s publication rights and one or
more of his orchestrators worked on it.14 Dreyfus’s business was lucrative, allow-
ing him to advance all or part of the cost of the orchestrations to the producer,
who could repay Dreyfus once the show was up and running.15 If a songwriter
who was not associated with Dreyfus wanted to hire a Chappell orchestrator—
the most prominent such figure was Irving Berlin, who ran his own publishing
company—arrangements had to be made.16 Dreyfus also maintained a staff of
copyists ready to work, if necessary, day and night to meet the demands of hur-
ried composers and orchestrators. Various developments from the early 1940s
began to change the business and Dreyfus’s dominance: Spialek left Chappell in
1942, unaffiliated arrangers like Phil Lang and Hershy Kay entered the field, and
Ted Royal left Chappell in 1946.17 Don Walker set up his own firm in 1951, but
Bennett remained with Chappell for the remainder of his career. By the 1950s,
Dreyfus was too old to maintain his iron grip on the field and orchestrators for the
most part became independent and were hired directly by producers.
Dreyfus brought so many projects into his firm that his orchestration depart-
ment frequently worked on more than one show simultaneously; indeed, Suskin
shows that during the course of the 1930s Harms and Chappell under Dreyfus’s
leadership published the scores of 119 Broadway musicals while all other publish-
ers combined managed only 46.18 Arrangers with free time helped the orchestrator
assigned to a particular show; the person hired to write the arrangements for a
show received credit for the work, but ghost writers were paid. One of the most
significant contributions of Suskin’s study is demonstrating the prevalence of this
practice, and the fact that sometimes we do not know who wrote a particular chart.
The practice of hiring ghost writers for orchestrations continued well into the
1950s, when leading orchestrators like Bennett and Walker often took on more
work than they could do, giving major numbers to such figures as Robert Ginzler,
Sid Ramin, and Irwin Kostal. These three men, who between them worked on
West Side Story and Gypsy, each assisted Walker on Bernstein’s Wonderful Town,
a project for which Suskin reports that Walker as lead orchestrator was only paid
for 14% of the work; Ginzler wrote 44% of the material.19 In the case of Bennett,
who worked on about 300 scores during his career, one of the few for which he
did all of the orchestrations was The Sound of Music, a special request from com-
poser Richard Rodgers.20
Broadway orchestrators are paid for each page of full score, defined as four
measures of music. In the 1950s, the pay rate was five or six dollars per page.21 A
short ballad, therefore, which might only be 60 measures in length and take con-
siderable effort to score, paid less than $100, but a dance scene with 400 measures
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 15
of music was worth $500 or more. Experienced orchestrators could do two num-
bers in a day,22 meaning that for those two numbers they might have pocketed
$600 or more, a significant payday in the 1950s, when the average family income
in the United States in 1950 was only $3,300 per year.23 Robert Russell Bennett
received $5.70 per page for his work on My Fair Lady, a project that he essen-
tially split with Phil Lang. As supervising orchestrator, Bennett’s rate increased
by 25%, and there was a similar premium for work that he did out-of-town or on
a Sunday. The total cost of orchestrations for the show was $10,473; copyists for
a show usually received between 60 and 100% of what the orchestrations cost.24
Today the work is all done on computer, but the cost of preparing a score for the
pit orchestra remains significant.
The Broadway pit orchestra developed in the first half of the twentieth cen-
tury in tandem with changes in the genre itself. Early in the century, different
types of shows required various forces in the pit. An operetta by Victor Herbert,
for example, was the descendent of Viennese operettas and included an ensem-
ble that amounted to a small symphony orchestra with as many as 50 musicians,
including a large string section, the overall number reduced to perhaps 34 when
the show went on tour.25 The musical comedy, a distinctively American genre
associated most prominently with George M. Cohan in the first two decades of
the century, tended to be accompanied by “11 and piano”: two violins, viola,
cello, bass, flute, clarinet, two cornets, trombone, percussion, and piano.26 This
was similar to a typical ragtime orchestra and what Cohan knew from vaudeville.
Violins carried the melody (doubled by cornets on repeats), viola and cello offered
countermelodies, the flute decorated the melody, and trombone provided appro-
priate slides at new sections and modulations. These instrumental roles remained
important in Broadway orchestras for decades. With musical comedy and operetta
both important on Broadway through the 1920s—operetta became less popular in
theaters in the 1930s—contrasting compositions of pit orchestras remained signif-
icant depending upon the show, but there were also compromises when a musical
included numbers associated with both musical comedies and operettas.
Frank Saddler, the orchestrator with whom Max Dreyfus paired Jerome Kern,
looked for ways to pare down a large operetta orchestra, striving for a cham-
ber music sound and using such tricks as placing rhythmic motives in middle
voices with the pianist, freeing second violin and viola to play a countermelody.
Saddler helped develop what became known as “15 and piano” (an inexact des-
ignation that includes the number of parts with strings doubled, meaning 18–24
instrumentalists), including perhaps 6 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, bass, flute, oboe,
2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, piano, harp, or drums.27
Saddler was the first Broadway orchestrator to use saxophones in a pit, on Kern’s
Oh, I Say! (1913), adding a significantly different timbre than what would have
been expected from “15 and piano.” Robert Russell Bennett described a typical
arrangement from these early days, outlining roles for various instruments. The
basic way to orchestrate a song was to provide: “a loud introduction, a vamp-
soft, with oom-pahs, a soft verse, a soft chorus (refrain) and a loud chorus made
by repeating the same arrangement with the brass and drums added and the first
16 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
violin up an octave.”28 First violins and oboe played the melody; second violins,
violas, and often horns performed after-beats; cellos offered a countermelody or
doubled the bass; flutes and clarinets played ornamental passages around the mel-
ody; bassoon doubled cellos or another instrument on the harmony; first trumpet
played the melody on the repeat and second trumpet a parallel line in thirds or
sixths; trombone doubled bass or worked with the trumpets; and drums provided
the basic beat. Arrangers worked in the absence of amplification, sometimes writ-
ing accompaniments for what Hans Spialek once called “voices that sometimes
weren’t voices at all – just talking voices.”29 Even some soloists who sang pretty
well, like Fred Astaire, had soft voices.
As the 1920s progressed, jazz sounds became more important on Broadway and
some pit bands started to resemble dance bands, such as in the DeSylva/Brown/
Henderson musicals Good News (1927) and Hold Everything (1928).30 For some
shows, major dance or jazz bands occupied the pit, such as that of Paul Whiteman
for four shows in the 1920s (including Kern’s Lucky [1927]) and Red Nichols’s
band in Gershwin’s Strike up the Band (1930).31 Several orchestrators—such
as Bennett, Hans Spialek, Emil Gerstenberger, and Maurice de Pack—started
to unify the operetta and earlier ragtime ensemble. Such a combined ensemble
(although others would have more strings) was in the pit for Jerome Kern’s The
Cat and the Fiddle (1931), where the credit line read “orchestrations devised by
Jerome Kern and scored by Russell Bennett.” The ensemble included three pianos
(one doubling on celeste), two violins, viola, cello, bass/tuba, flute/saxophone,
oboe/saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet/saxophone, three trumpets, trombone,
marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, timpani, drums, and other percussion instru-
ments.32 Operetta orchestras remained in works by Sigmund Romberg, Rudolf
Friml, and other composers in the 1920s. The contrast between these ensembles
and one capable of playing music in a jazz style raises issues of class and race at a
time when jazz and blues coded strongly as African American in a racially divided
United States. Jazz and blues were popular among whites, especially the younger
crowd, but the music’s origin and associations with urban nightlife tainted it as
decadent for some whites and African Americans. The most obvious differences
between pit orchestras for a jazzy show and another for an operetta would have
been the use of saxophones and a smaller number of strings for the former.
Variety remained a feature in Broadway pits through the 1930s and 1940s.
George Beiswanger, writing in 1944, described the wide range of sounds heard
from ensembles accompanying in Broadway theaters at that moment: the “richly
orthodox music of Oklahoma!”; the traditional, European operetta The Merry
Widow; Carmen Jones, for which Bizet’s operatic score was re-orchestrated by
Robert Russell Bennett, was about to open; and Kurt Weill’s One Touch of Venus,
a musical comedy with jazzy music.33 Symonds describes two types of orchestra-
tions for the 1940s and 1950s: that found in the Rodgers and Hammerstein and
similar shows, epitomized by Carousel (1945), orchestrated by Don Walker, which
included 39 musicians, 22 of them strings; and Gypsy (1959), derived from earlier
dance band shows, certainly with a number of strings, but also heavier use of reeds
and brass. Jonathan Tunick points out a third type of orchestration for the period:
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 17
“the ‘interpretive style’ … where the arranger draws from many sources to interpret
the lyric in a dramatic sense.” He cites “Lonely Room” from Oklahoma!, orches-
trated by Bennett, as an example of this type because the ensemble “helps set the
mood and character, much like a piece of theatre design, like sets and lighting.”34
Contributing to a tune’s effectiveness has been important for decades in
Broadway orchestrations, but this had not always been the case. Robert Russell
Bennett noted that early in his career it was possible to write orchestrations without
knowing the show’s story, but the genre changed. Audiences began to expect the
music to serve the drama and other aspects of the show; in 1951 Bennett stated:
“Today, the orchestrator has to live in the theater not only during the rehearsals but
while the shows in Philly or Boston or wherever it’s trying out. Every change in
production means a change in orchestration.”35 Chapters 4 and 5 include detailed
descriptions of West Side Story and Gypsy orchestrations in reference to how they
reflect lyrics, situations, and affects of songs. Here, we briefly consider representa-
tive examples in earlier scores. Hans Spialek orchestrated On Your Toes (1936) by
Rodgers and Hart with the assistance of David Raksin and Ted Royal.36 From the
same orchestra of 25 musicians they produced a sound resembling an ensemble
for the “Russian” ballets that were part of the plot along with music that featured
big band accompaniment for much of the remainder of the show. John Mauceri,
musical director of a 1983 revival of On Your Toes, said of Spialek’s work: “When
you listen to a Spialek orchestration, you’re aware that Hans is commenting on
the words. There’s an incredible, pixielike sense of humor in his orchestrations.”37
George Beiswanger described an instance during the creation of Dubarry Was a
Lady (1939) when choreographer Robert Alton told Cole Porter what he needed
from orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett at a particular point in a dance: “build
those two bars very big. We’ve got a swell break there I want the music to empha-
size.” Beiswanger admits that this is hardly a “way to music that can stand alone …
[b]ut it is the way to great theatre music, the kind that builds with a show and that
can be built upon.”38 Don Walker described a lengthy segment that he worked into
the orchestration for Best Foot Forward (1941) at the request of choreographer
Gene Kelly to underline a series of elaborate dancing moves in a line of men, a
moment from the pit that he reports not one critic noticed. As Walker states, “the
paradoxical fact [is] that the better we do our job, the more perfectly we fit the
action on the stage, the less it is noticed by the layman.”39

Two important orchestrators

We have considered various aspects of the Broadway musical of the 1950s, how
the work of the orchestrators developed from earlier in the twentieth century,
and the processes and conditions of their work during the decade in question. In
order to place the work of Sid Ramin, Robert Ginzler, and Irwin Kostal in another
important context before looking at their lives and work in Chapters 3 to 5, we
consider the careers and orchestrations of Robert Russell Bennett and Don Walker,
the two leading Broadway orchestrators of the 1950s. Ramin, Ginzler, and Kostal
each worked with Walker’s Chelsea Music before doing shows without him, and
18 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
surely Bennett’s prolific legacy in the field influenced those who later made their
way into the field.

Case study 1: Robert Russell Bennett (1894–1981)

Born in Kansas City, Bennett hailed from a family of musicians, his father
both a professional trumpeter and violinist and his mother a piano teacher.
He was known to friends and family as “Russell” and his early professional
credits often appear as “Russell Bennett,” but it is by all three of his names
that he became known as the most prominent of Broadway orchestrators.
Despite his busy life in that profession—he contributed to about 300 shows
from the 1920s and 1970s—Bennett’s career extended beyond orchestrating
into composition and conducting. He studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger
for periods between 1926 and 1929. One of his most famous compositions
is for concert band, the Suite of Old American Dances (1949). Bennett
wrote numerous symphonic works, such as Abraham Lincoln: A Likeness
in Symphony Form (1929) and many works in other genres. He wrote the
well-known soundtrack to the television series Victory at Sea (1952–53) on
the US Navy during World War II; Bennett took themes supplied by Richard
Rodgers and scored music for 13 hours of episodes.40 Between his compo-
sitions and arrangements, Bennett produced an enormous musical legacy
that ranks him as one of the more prolific and influential American creative
musicians of the twentieth century.

Bennett contracted polio at age five, causing his family to move to his paternal
grandfather’s farm in rural Freeman, Missouri. The disease left him with a life-
long limp, but he was an avid amateur tennis and handball player. He became
proficient on violin, piano, and cornet, playing the latter in his father’s band at
age ten.41 He performed on each of those instruments in addition to trombone and
organ in various gigs in the earlier part of his career. His musical studies included
work in harmony and counterpoint from 1911 to 1916 with Carl Busch, conductor
of the Kansas City Symphony. Bennett moved to New York City in 1916 where
he found a job working for G. Schirmer, orchestrating a silent film score with
music by William Furst, in addition to other projects.42 Bennett enlisted in the
army in 1918 and spent the war directing a band at Camp Funston in Kansas.
Upon his return to civilian life in New York, Bennett started to work for T. B.
Harms, first writing stock arrangements of popular songs, but the firm’s owner
Max Dreyfus quickly moved Bennett into orchestrating for Broadway shows.
Frank Saddler was the leading Broadway orchestrator when Bennett arrived in
New York, and the young musician was a fan of Saddler’s work.43 Saddler died in
1921 and Bennett quickly became a leading Broadway arranger. The list of shows
for which he served as principal orchestrator included some of the most famous
musicals of the next five decades: Wildflower (1923), Rose Marie (1924), Song of
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 19
the Flame (1925), Show Boat (1927), Girl Crazy (1930), Of Thee I Sing (1931),
Anything Goes (1934), Oklahoma! (1943), Carmen Jones (1943), Bloomer Girl
(1944), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), Finian’s Rainbow (1947), Kiss Me, Kate
(1948), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), My Fair Lady (1956), Bells Are
Ringing (1956), Flower Drum Song (1958), The Sound of Music (1959), Camelot
(1960), and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965). Through these works,
Bennett developed working relationships with Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern,
George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Frederick Loewe, and Alan Jay
Lerner, among other writers. Despite his enormous success on Broadway, Bennett
confessed that he was “an incurable life-long musical snob.”44 He always believed
that music by classical masters was superior to that written by the Broadway com-
posers, writing, for example: “So Irving Berlin’s train and mine pass each other on
parallel tracks,” and he found songs like “Tea for Two” “a little cheap.”45 Bennett
seems to have realized, however, that his feelings about show music were also hard
to justify, admitting that “one has to realize that snobbery has no edge unless it is
a little preposterous.”46 It was an edge on which he lived his life, as may be seen
in his relationship with one of Kern’s most famous scores. In 1927, the year after
Bennett had moved his family to Paris for his study with Boulanger, he returned to
New York to orchestrate Kern’s score for Show Boat. When given later opportuni-
ties with the same music, he orchestrated the film version in 1936 and returned to
do additional work on stage revivals of the show in 1946 and 1966. William David
Brohn, a noted orchestrator of a later generation, reported that he found Bennett
at a rehearsal of the 1966 production, next to his wife and crying during “You
Are Love” and saying “Isn’t this just one of the most beautiful songs that Jerry
[Kern] ever wrote?”47 Apparently, Bennett knew a good tune when he heard it and
must have enjoyed bringing his ability and taste to its service. The lyricist of Show
Boat, Hammerstein, was one of Bennett’s best friends. In reference to his lyrics
for Carmen Jones and Oklahoma!, Bennett called Hammerstein’s efforts “works of
art.”48 In addition, from a practical standpoint when addressing the realities of the
genre, Bennett stated: “Every bar in a musical comedy is there because it’s good and
it’s up to the orchestra to feel that and take it from there.”49
Bennett consistently balanced his Broadway work with other musical endeav-
ors. He returned to Paris in 1928 for more work with Boulanger, made possible
by a Guggenheim Fellowship. He entered some of his classical compositions in
two competitions around 1930 and won prizes in each, leading to their program-
ming by some American orchestras. His opera Maria Malibran—mostly written
in 1932 while he lived outside of Vienna, a sojourn partly funded by orches-
trating a show composed by Fritz Kreisler—premiered at the Juilliard School of
Music in 1934.50 Bennett worked in Hollywood for much of the second half of the
1930s; besides Show Boat, he also orchestrated for such films as Born to Dance
(1936, music by Cole Porter), Swing Time (1936, Kern), and Shall We Dance and
A Damsel in Distress (both 1937, Gershwin). Bennett’s later Hollywood work
as an orchestrator included such films as Lady in the Dark (1944, Kurt Weill)
and Oklahoma! (1955, Rodgers). Bennett also composed scores for a num-
ber of films. An indication of his ability to move between the commercial and
20 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
classical worlds occurred around 1940, when he advised Sergei Rachmaninov
on which saxophone to use for a solo line in his Symphonic Dances (1940).51 In
the 1940s, Bennett began to work on radio, including for 16 months (November
1940 to March 194252) on New York’s WOR, with the weekly, 30-minute Russell
Bennett’s Notebook, where he had at his disposal a large orchestra to conduct and
programmed his own works and those by colleagues. His next radio show was
Music for an Hour, and then later in 1942 he joined Hans Spialek on a CBS show
called Great Moments in Music.53 Bennett’s radio shows spurred him to com-
pose more of his own works, and more radio work followed later in the decade.
In 1943, Bennett composed his Four Freedoms Symphony, based upon Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s famous speech from early 1941 and Norman Rockwell’s images
depicting the concept. It became one of Bennett’s most famous works, premiered
on radio by the NBC Symphony on 16 September 1943 and subsequently played
by orchestras in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Cleveland, among others.54 In
the 1950s, NBC Television discovered Bennett, first as “arranger” for Rodgers’s
themes for Victory at Sea, and Bennett went on to compose original music for
about 35 NBC documentaries that aired as late as 1973.55 Another major asso-
ciation from later in Bennett’s career was with Robert Shaw. Bennett conducted
the Robert Shaw Chorale on a recording of music from Porgy and Bess in 1950,
and then between 1958 and 1965 he arranged music for six albums with Shaw’s
group, perhaps the best known being The Many Moods of Christmas (1963).56
His career started to wind down after the mid-1960s, but Bennett did a bit more
Broadway orchestrating, including reworking the scores of three shows for pro-
ductions at the New York State Theater: Annie Get Your Gun (1966), Show Boat
(1966), and Oklahoma! (1969).57
A fruitful genre for Bennett where his Broadway and concert music connec-
tions intersected was in arrangements of show music for orchestras and concert
bands. He wrote most of these works for Chappell, but others were commis-
sioned, such as his Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture by Fritz Reiner and the
Pittsburgh Symphony, which premiered the medley on 5 February 1943.58 Bennett
conceived that work for a fully professional ensemble, but many of these arrange-
ments were written for the educational and amateur market. As George Ferencz
has stated, Bennett had the special ability “to forecast the vagaries of performance
to which his arrangements would be subjected.”59 Bennett made hundreds of such
arrangements, often using the show’s overture, entr’acte, and/or exit music as a
basis. In the late 1990s, the Rodgers & Hammerstein Concert Library offered for
rental more than 200 of Bennett’s arrangements for orchestra and dozens of others
for concert band, and many are still available for performances.
Bennett’s interactions with numerous Broadway songwriters demonstrate how
varied an orchestrator’s work might be while also illuminating his perceptions of
these creative artists. Irving Berlin was one of the less musically accomplished of
the group, but Bennett admired his work for its simplicity. He refers to Berlin’s
songs as a “primitive idiom” but also notes that both Jerome Kern and Cole Porter
felt a “sincere admiration for songs that had no touch of their sophistication in
them,”60 referring to Berlin’s output. Bennett also states that Berlin’s “harmonies
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 21
are not venturesome but they are sound and hard to improve on.”61 When working
with Berlin, the songwriter might ask Bennett if a harmony he had chosen was
correct. Bennett would suggest others, and Berlin would be delighted when they
found the one that he wanted, an indication to Bennett that Berlin could hear it
in his head.62 Bennett worked extensively with Kern and in describing their rela-
tionship reveals details of his work with that composer. He described working
on Kern’s music as “a joy,” more so than “the usual successful theater music”
because Kern “was rather better schooled than the majority and was very sensitive
to harmony and orchestral color.”63 Bennett found Kern’s melodies more original
than those of his competitors, burying the praise in a backhanded compliment: “In
a medium where too much originality condemns a writer to posthumous success
his [Kern’s] melodies were never likely to be completely obvious.”64 Knowing
that Bennett at times would supply harmonies for a composer, it seems clear with
Kern that this was less often the case, and that Kern also sometimes provided
input on orchestral choices, a possibility confirmed above by the partial credit
line to Kern for the orchestration to The Cat and the Fiddle. Orchestrators often
provide a song’s countermelodies, but Bennett admits that Kern wrote “some”
of them for his songs.65 Bennett sometimes prepared the piano/vocal version for
Kern’s songs. This aspect of their work together comes out in a story that Bennett
relates: before Kern and his wife moved to California, he sat down with Bennett
“and improvised tune after tune while I wrote out the melody of each one and
labeled it simply by number.”66 Bennett reports there were many tunes in this col-
lection; thereafter Kern would phone Bennett and ask him to write out a piano/
vocal version of the piece and send it west. As an “orchestrator,” then, Bennett
sometimes took part in creating a song’s harmony and accompaniment, whether
working for a songwriter like Berlin who knew what he wanted but could not
play it or describe it or one like Kern who had a more sophisticated understanding
of music and its theoretical considerations. This is what Bennett meant when he
described his profession:

You are engaged to work with a composer and put his melodies into shape for
a performance in the theatre. Your task is to be a part of him – the part that is
missing. He may be capable of doing the whole score himself or he may not
know a G clef from a gargoyle. Your job is to bring in whatever he doesn’t
and make it feel like it belongs there.67

Clearly, Bennett was in demand from Broadway composers who wanted him to
work his magic with their melodies. Cole Porter said of him: “Russell has a tre-
mendous lot of originality, but he uses it to give a song the texture and shading
the composer had in mind. He has superb taste.”68 Richard Rodgers once offered
a revealing comment on what Bennett did with his song “The Surrey with the
Fringe on Top” from Oklahoma!:

There was a beautiful chance for a guy to get corny – to use temple blocks to
simulate horses’ hoofs, and all those lousy pizzicato tricks with strings. Not
22 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
Russell. “He’ll make these wheels go round,” I told myself; and, of course,
he did. He managed to keep that open-air, farm feeling, and that carriage
really rolled. There isn’t a note in that orchestration, or any orchestration of
Russell’s, that doesn’t justify itself.69

Bennett maintained his place in the field by being willing to learn new trends.
After mostly being away from Broadway work in the late 1920s while studying in
France, he missed the growing importance of the dance band style in pit orches-
tras. However, he quickly mastered that kind of writing, with three prominent
trumpets and all reeds doubling on saxophones, heard in Bennett’s orchestrations
for Girl Crazy (1930).70 Even once he was considered the top man in his field,
Bennett would decline naming for a show’s music staff what instruments should
be in the pit orchestra, preferring to demonstrate that he could work with whatever
he was handed.71 He started attending rehearsals about a week or so after they
commenced so that he could listen to singers learning their numbers and the danc-
ers their routines. He needed to see the numbers as they developed to be

as receptive as possible to every move on stage and let each number do what
it will to me. I try not to hear the rehearsal piano but to gear myself so that I
hear what the full orchestra will be playing.72

He noted the timbre of singers so that he could orchestrate appropriately for

each. He would start to do the orchestrations 2 weeks before opening night for
the out-of-town try-out, working 16-hour days. He wrote no piano versions,
moving straight to writing pages of partiturs (orchestral scores). Wind reports
that 4 pages per hour was considered a good rate and Bennett several times did
more than 9 pages per hour, but he had managed 28 per hour during a huge time
crunch.73 Incredibly, Bennett preferred to execute orchestrations with the radio on
and sometimes even with his wife reading to him. Making sure that song lyrics
were intelligible was one of his major concerns, but he could go too far with that
goal. When working on Carmen Jones, for example, Bennett discovered while
conducting the pit orchestra during the Philadelphia try-out that he had set the
orchestral dynamics too softly, and the next night raised the levels.74 Two or three
nights before a Broadway opening, Bennett traveled with the show back to New
York, where he would work on the numbers that needed help and write the over-
ture. He started the overture to Kiss Me, Kate 25 hours before the opening curtain,
working through the night and finishing at 4:10 PM, several hours before opening,
the copyists working with him as he finished pages of partiturs.75
Bennett wrote educational essays about his profession, and finally the book
Instrumentally Speaking, which appeared from Belwin Mills in 1975. It is instruc-
tive to note the areas in which Bennett felt it was important to comment. This is
his largest published statement, but the earlier, shorter essays are worthwhile,
especially to help show how the field changed over the years. In the journal
Modern Music, Bennett published “Orchestrating for Broadway” in 1932.76 He
briefly covers numerous aspects of his work and states that the most important
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 23
thing he learned from his formal training to assist his orchestrations was coun-
terpoint.77 Also, he describes the smaller pit orchestras of the early 1930s, stating
that at the time only three reeds were the norm.78 Along with publishing Bennett’s
autobiography, George Ferencz provided Bennett’s other published essays from
the Music Lover’s Encyclopedia (probably written in the late 1930s), Etude Music
Magazine in April 1943, Music Publishers Journal in September–October 1944,
the New York Times on 8 June 1947, International Musician from February to
April 1949, Harp News in fall 1954, and Music Journal from May 1967.79
Instrumentally Speaking offers Bennett’s practical advice and musings about
orchestration for theater orchestras, symphony orchestras, and concert bands, and
a few observations about film music and electronic music. The book includes
fascinating glimpses into his thinking and working methods. For openers, Bennett
urges constant creativity: “Experience teaches us that we can’t write out an orches-
tration without being creative every step of the way.”80 His definition of creativity
is a high bar indeed: “Music arranging … needs to be approached as though it be a
complete surprise to the creator. In theory he should not have the slightest thought
of an orchestral sound until a look at the composition suggests it to him.”81 Also,
“arrangers are in a constant search for new sounds.”82 After earlier stating that he
sometimes helped a composer find the right harmony,83 later Bennett asserts that
he would not change the harmonies of a refrain the first two times through in an
arrangement, but after that perhaps he might for the sake of variety.84 In an addi-
tion to his working methods described earlier, Bennett admits here, later in his
career, that he took a tape recorder to Broadway rehearsals to record music and
conversations.85 After describing the field when he began, Bennett celebrates addi-
tions to pit orchestras during his career: the “vibrant vulgarity” of the saxophones
and the many possibilities brought on by the “plectrum instruments,” especially
electric guitar and electric bass.86 He bemoans a money-saving practice applied
to Broadway pit orchestras: after several weeks, four or five members tended to
be dismissed, almost always string players.87 Bennett then extensively describes
each of the instruments used in a pit orchestra, covering their strengths and weak-
nesses, how each tends to be used, and special effects its players can perform.88
After covering all of that material, Bennett ironically states: “there is com-
paratively little to teach and learn about orchestration; there is so much to feel
and do!”89 In this chapter, “Putting the Colors to Work,” Bennett offers practical
advice on working conditions for orchestrators and copyists, notational shortcuts,
choosing music paper, the loneliness of the occupation, lay-out of a score, what
instruments double well on a melody, why he believes a piano contributes little to
a pit orchestra, the conductor’s role and close collaboration with the orchestrator,
and other matters.90 Bennett advises his reader: “Theater music changes a lot more
in your department than it does in the composer’s or other writers’ department.”91
For the next sections, Bennett pretends that he is orchestrating a show, providing
piano/vocal parts for a few songs and a dance and orchestrations of each, mate-
rial on which he comments.92 While it is desirable to have reed players who play
multiple instruments, Bennett notes that the orchestrator must allow time for a
musician to switch instruments. In describing the process of orchestrating a dance
24 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
arrangement, he explains that it is usually written by the rehearsal pianist/dance
arranger using tunes from the show. Bennett then explains some problems in ren-
dering a piano work for the orchestra.
Bennett’s next chapter, “Down the Stretch,” concerns what the orchestra-
tor does in the last weeks of rehearsals before a show opens.93 Some of this we
approached above, but there are a few new points here. It is time to write the util-
ity pieces, such as the music played between scenes, arrangements that often show
up in an entr’acte or the exit music. They must be scored so that they can be per-
formed softly or loudly, depending on the conductor’s needs. This might also be
the time that another arranger would need to be hired. The orchestrator attends the
first orchestral run-through and initial rehearsal with singers to correct mistakes
in the parts, but then Bennett says it is time to stay home and write. The morning
after the out-of-town opening would be reserved for cuts to the show, potentially
necessitating considerable rewriting. One or more members of the creative team
might decide that the orchestration of a number is ineffective; Bennett offers that
it might be time for another arranger to write a fresh version.
The final chapter in Instrumentally Speaking that mostly involves theater music
is “Second Act Curtain,” where Bennett further illuminates his profession.94 He
admits that many songs that he orchestrated barely interested him after the first
hearing. He adds: “But that first hearing is in theory what you are giving your
audiences night after night. Just how much, in the glamor of your presentation, do
you need to add to it?”95 He recommends that the arrangement should be based
mostly on the song’s piano accompaniment to avoid confusing the singers, who
have practiced with the piano part, but phrase endings require fill-ins to add inter-
est. He insists that the orchestrator must place the pit ensemble at service to the
drama: “Yours is the key assignment in making the music help tell the story.”96
Bennett advises also to maintain rhythm in an ensemble somewhere besides the
drums. The remainder of the volume covers arranging for symphony orchestras,
bands, film scoring, and electronic music. In “The Wrap-Up,” Bennett advises his
readers to learn as much as possible about everything from classical models to
rock and electronic music, and “use all these rich resources economically, hoping
[one] has the talent and sensitivity to remain uncomplicated and still say what
needs to be said.”97

Case study 2: Don Walker (1907–89)

When Rodgers and Hammerstein were working on Carousel in 1945, they
approached Robert Russell Bennett to do the orchestrations. Bennett was
unable to commit to the full project but arranged some of the music that
was ready. Rodgers asked Don Walker to take on the larger part of the show.
Bennett stated: “No one in his right mind could shed any tears over hav-
ing Don Walker’s arrangements and he did one of the finest jobs that have
ever been done on Carousel.”98 As will be shown below, Bennett’s praise
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 25
and Walker’s outstanding work on the show seem all the more intriguing
because Walker’s forte was thought to be swing arrangements, of which
there are none in Carousel. By the end of his career, however, Walker
gravitated towards shows with unusual musical needs like She Loves Me
and Zorba. Unlike Bennett, Walker did not work extensively away from
Broadway, and in the 1950s he helped bring his field to the next level of
importance in the industry by insisting that he be paid .5% of the show’s
gross in addition to his fee, making it hugely profitable when he worked on
such hits as The Music Man and Fiddler on the Roof.

Donald John Walker was the son of a grocer in Lambertville, NJ. Suskin reports
that Walker started high school at age ten, where he played drums, flute, and
saxophone, filling in for school ensembles where they needed musicians.99 His
piano teacher Mary Gillingham Brown presented Walker with a book about
orchestration, starting him on his path.100 He enrolled in the Wharton School of
Business at the University of Pennsylvania at age 14 while also playing tenor
saxophone in his own group and spending a great deal of time in other musical
activities. In a discussion in 1927 with a girlfriend and her father about Fred
Waring and his band, the Pennsylvanians, Walker disparaged their instrumental
arrangements. Walker accepted a dare from his girlfriend and met Waring at one
of his gigs in Philadelphia, introducing himself as an arranger. Waring agreed to
come hear some of Walker’s charts the next day performed by a band at a Chinese
restaurant. The director was impressed and offered Walker two pieces of music
to arrange for a recording the next week. The Pennsylvanians made the record-
ings and one, “Love Tale of the Alsace-Lorraine,” became a hit. Walker earned
a degree in economics, but Waring offered him a job as an arranger and Walker
never looked back, later using his business knowledge to his advantage. He played
saxophone in Waring’s band, moving onto just arranging and serving as assistant
director.101 Waring and his Pennsylvanians were highly successful in live per-
formances, on radio, and in recordings, giving Walker experience in arranging
for different media. During a break in the ensemble’s schedule, for a short time
Walker went to Toronto to lead the orchestra at the Royal York Hotel, where
one of his musicians was a young trombonist named Robert Ginzler, later the
important orchestrator. Walker then returned to Waring, did some arrangements
for theatrical presentations that the group played for in the pit at the University of
Pennsylvania, and finally left Waring’s employment in 1933 and went to try his
luck in New York City.
Walker’s break came through Al Goodman, who had played trumpet with
Waring and now led a radio orchestra for which Walker started to work. From
there, he orchestrated for Sigmund Romberg’s radio show in 1934–35, which
so impressed the Broadway composer that he helped Walker get a job with Max
Dreyfus at T. B. Harms. Walker’s first Broadway show was Romberg’s May Wine
(1936), for which Bennett also did some of the orchestrations. In 1936, Walker
26 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
arranged the song “Down in the Depths (on the 90th Floor)” for Cole Porter’s
Red, Hot and Blue!, a project where Bennett was principal orchestrator. The star
was Ethel Merman, who liked Walker’s work.102 Months later, NBC broadcast a
program of the show’s music, and the network hired Walker to do the orchestra-
tions. This time he impressed the composer, leading Porter to ask Max Dreyfus
for Walker on his next show, Leave It to Me! (1938). Walker continued arranging
Cole Porter’s music for Ethel Merman in the hit Panama Hattie (1940).
Walker’s next important show was Best Foot Forward (1941), which he did
with Hans Spialek and other orchestrators. Two associations he made in that col-
laboration—producer/director George Abbott and uncredited producer Richard
Rodgers—proved important for Walker because later he worked extensively with
each. Hans Spialek had been Rodgers’s favorite arranger, but Walker took over
that position and did nine musicals with the composer.103 Walker’s association
with Abbott was even more lucrative, resulting in more than a dozen shows with
the director/producer, and then more projects into the mid-1960s with Abbott’s
mentee, producer/director Hal Prince, including Fiddler on the Roof.104 Music for
Best Foot Forward was by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, serving a story about a
college prom; the music was largely swing. Walker and his colleagues scored for a
pit ensemble with three trumpets, three trombones, and five reeds all doubling on
saxophone, a sound that Cole Porter then wanted in Let’s Face It!, which opened
four weeks later.105 Among the shows that Walker worked on over the next few
years were By Jupiter (1942) and the revival of A Connecticut Yankee (1943),
both with scores by Rodgers and Hart, and Something for the Boys (1943) by Cole
Porter. In 1944, Walker worked on On the Town by Leonard Bernstein and Betty
Comden and Adolph Green, doing arrangements along with Hershy Kay, Elliott
Jacoby, and Ted Royal. Walker’s charts for the show included four songs strongly
based on jazz and blues—right in his wheelhouse—and what emerged were fine
examples of his work in the comedy songs “I Can Cook Too” and “Come up to
My Place.” “Carried Away” is a semi-operatic song that extended Walker in other
directions, and his other song, “So Long Baby,” sounded like a vaudeville number.
Walker tried his hand at writing Broadway scores three times, but none of the
shows enjoyed commercial success. The first was Allah Be Praised! (1944), for
which he collaborated on the music with Baldwin Bergersen. The book and lyr-
ics were by George Marion, Jr. Lewis Nichols, writing in the New York Times,
liked the cast, costumes, dances, and sets, but described Marion’s book as “com-
pletely without wit.”106 Nichols praised some of the songs. Walker did the show’s
vocal arrangements; there was no orchestration credit.107 Allah Be Praised man-
aged just 20 performances. Walker was working on his score for Memphis Bound
when Max Dreyfus forced Walker to assume the orchestration of Carousel after
Bennett pulled out.108 Later Walker went back to his own show, which opened
about a month after Carousel, in May 1945. Memphis Bound featured an African
American cast and included music from Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore
and Trial by Jury. The show takes place in the nineteenth century, with a group
of performers headed towards the titled city on a boat that runs onto a sandbar.
They do a performance of HMS Pinafore to raise money to get the boat moved.
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 27
Clay Warnick wrote the lyrics that Gilbert didn’t and provided some vocal
arrangements; Walker and Warnick took joint credit for the music, and Walker
orchestrated the songs while Ted Royal did dance arrangements. Critic Lewis
Nichols liked the show, saying that “the syncopated Savoyards pretty much hit
the mark.”109 Nichols spends an entire paragraph praising the music, a mixture of
Sullivan with boogie-woogie and jazz, plus a few original songs by Walker and
Warnick. Unfortunately, Nichols did not speak for the New York audience, who
only allowed Memphis Bound 36 performances. Walker’s third show for which
he composed the score was Courtin’ Time. The musical ran for 37 performances
in summer 1951. Famous comic actor Joe E. Brown played a farmer in Maine
who woos his housekeeper, played by Billie Worth. Bordman called the show a
“charming rustic idyll,”110 but Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times was unim-
pressed: “Seldom has so much hard work resulted in so ordinary an evening.”111
Walker and Jack Lawrence shared the credit for both music and lyrics and Walker
did the orchestral and vocal arrangements.
Don Walker did at least some orchestrations for about 140 shows from the
1930s to the 1970s; Suskin lists him a principal orchestrator for 96 of them. His
work on more famous shows and unusual projects will be considered here. For
Carousel, Rodgers wrote some of the most operetta-like music of his career and
insisted on a large pit orchestra of 39 musicians, including 22 strings.112 According
to Suskin, Walker had a hand in 11 major numbers with other work done by Hans
Spialek, Stephen O. Jones, Bennett, and Joe Glover.113 Dominic McHugh provides
some details of Walker’s work with Rodgers’s fair copies of songs, noting that the
orchestrator added articulation markings, expanded the dynamic range, and edited
tempo markings.114 Over the next five years, Walker served important roles in the
orchestration of Finian’s Rainbow (1947, music by Burton Lane), Miss Liberty
(1949, score by Berlin), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949, music by Styne), and
Call Me Madam (1950, score by Berlin), among other shows. These musicals pro-
vided Walker with the opportunity to work on a wide variety of songs and dances.
As Max Dreyfus aged, Chappell’s dominance of Broadway orchestration waned.
Bennett and Walker considered establishing a firm together, but in the end only
Walker, using his business education, left Chappell in 1951 and set up Chelsea
Music with Mathilde Pincus. He hired several arrangers and Pincus assembled a
group of copyists; as a firm, they were ready to take on as many shows as they could
find. At this time, Bennett mostly stopped working on Broadway because of Victory
at Sea, Hans Spialek was only ghosting for other arrangers, and Ted Royal was
often indisposed.115 Walker supervised the orchestration of an astonishing two dozen
musicals between 1951 and 1955, leading him and his company into challenging
moments, such as early 1953 when they orchestrated three shows that opened within
the space of two weeks: Hazel Flagg (11 February), Maggie (18 February), and
Wonderful Town (25 February).116 This was when one of Walker’s assistants, Robert
Ginzler, pulled Sid Ramin into working on Wonderful Town. Composer Leonard
Bernstein was shocked to meet Ramin, his childhood friend, in Boston.117 Suskin has
documented just how stretched Walker and his assistants were: nine orchestrators
worked on Hazel Flagg with Walker himself doing 45% of the work, for Maggie
28 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
those numbers were seven and 31%, and for Wonderful Town eight and 14%.118 If
one wants to hear Walker’s work on the imaginative score of Wonderful Town, in
terms of major numbers, he only orchestrated most of “Conquering the City Ballet,”
“Ohio,” and “A Quiet Girl.” His other major song, “The Story of My Life,” was
cut.119 Other interesting projects that Walker supervised at about this time included
orchestrations for 1952 revivals of Pal Joey and Of Thee I Sing, as well as Harold
Rome’s successful Wish You Were Here (1952) and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
Me and Juliet (1953). Walker’s four busy seasons finished out with such shows
as Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’s The Pajama Game (1954) and Damn Yankees
(1955) and Cole Porter’s Silk Stockings (1955). Numerous assistants also worked
with Walker on these three shows, including Ginzler and Irwin Kostal on each.120
The first show where Walker managed to tack on .5% of the gross for his
efforts was Hit the Trail (1954), the only Broadway credit for Portuguese com-
poser Frederico Valério, which only played four performances.121 The first suc-
cessful show where Walker received a share of the gross was Silk Stockings,122
and from that point some producers steered clear of him until other orchestrators
made the demand. Hal Prince, for example, who hired Walker at the insistence of
his mentor George Abbott for The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, did not hire
Walker again until he produced and directed She Loves Me in 1963. As Suskin
has suggested, the orchestrator also might have lost work because of his heavy
use of assistants. He only had one show in 1956, two in 1957, none in 1958, and
one in 1959.123 His most significant work in the second half of the 1950s involved
two shows: The Most Happy Fella (1956) and The Music Man (1957). As noted
above, Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella included a tremendous amount of music,
ranging from popular “Standing on the Corner” and “Big ‘D’” to pseudo-Italian
folk songs like “How Beautiful the Days” and the frankly operatic “Abbondanza.”
Walker wrote the vast majority of the show’s orchestrations, with Ginzler and
Mark Bucci doing one song and some incidentals between them. Walker called
the show, “One of the landmarks of what I’ve done in this business.”124 Peter
Purin has described the way that the orchestrations serve characterization in some
of the songs, such as in “Joey, Joey, Joey,” where harp glissandi and triplet pat-
terns in the woodwinds might represent the wind that “sings” to Joe.125 Meredith
Willson’s The Music Man was another show that Walker did with a great deal
of help, with additional orchestrations executed by Sidney Fine, Kostal, Ginzler,
Walter Eiger, and Laurence Rosenthal. According to the invoices for the work that
Suskin consulted, Walker did 38%, Fine 33%, Kostal 12%, and Ginzler 10%.126
The only number that Walker did entirely by himself was the memorable “Ya Got
Trouble.” Purin points to Walker’s penchant for jazz scoring, heard in this number
in the prominent bass line and “sharply articulated chords in the brass.”127
Our interest is Broadway in the 1950s, and Walker’s work on Broadway lasted
into the 1970s, increasingly engaging in more distinctive projects. Walker himself
wrote in 1968:

From being a specialist in musical theatre I now have become still more spe-
cialized, restricting myself to productions that have a need for, and offer me
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 29
the opportunity to create, a musical ambience supporting the story and the
time and place of the play.128

This included such projects as Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s She Loves Me,
which takes place in Budapest, inspiring Walker to make extensive use of accor-
dion and violins played in a style associated with Roma music. For Fiddler on the
Roof (1964), also by Bock and Harnick, Walker provided an effective ambience
for the Jewish story, including solo violin and klezmer references. John Kander
and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret (1966) featured an orchestration that suggested jazz
sounds from the 1920s and 1930s and functional separation of the orchestra into
two ensembles, one for songs that helped tell the story and the other to accom-
pany numbers performed in the cabaret. Zorba (1968), also by Kander and Ebb,
sounded different than almost any other Broadway orchestra, including, for exam-
ple, four violinists doubling on mandolins, providing plucked string sounds to sup-
port the ethnic instruments played on the stage. For Shenandoah (1975), Walker
included an harmonica in the pit. Walker’s final show was The Little Prince and
the Aviator (1981), which only played in previews in New York. Later in the
1980s, he showed signs of dementia, dying in Trenton, NJ, on 13 December 1989.

Examples of Broadway orchestration in the 1950s

The final way that we seek context for the study of the orchestrations for West
Side Story and Gypsy is through specific descriptions of various arrangements
from the 1950s by Bennett and Walker, and songs from Wonderful Town (1953)
arranged by Ginzler, Ramin, and Kostal as ghost work for Walker. For Bennett,
we consider the contrasting “Without You” from My Fair Lady (1956) and “The
Party’s Over” from Bells Are Ringing (1956), as well as the novelty song “Do –
Re – Mi” from The Sound of Music (1959). To represent Walker’s work our mod-
els are “No Other Love” from Me and Juliet (1953) and “The Game” from Damn
Yankees (1955). Our examples from Wonderful Town will be Ginzler’s approach
to “One Hundred Ways to Lose a Man,” Ramin’s realization of “Swing,” and
Kostal’s arrangement of “Pass the Football.” These descriptions are based upon
original cast recordings, meaning that some details of orchestrations might have
been different in the theater. Citations provide information on the recordings, but
each of the numbers is also available on YouTube. This focus on orchestrations
and how they contribute to each number necessitates detailed musical description.
The reader’s understanding will be enhanced by listening to the song while read-
ing the description.

“Without You”
An effective aspect of Lerner and Loewe’s songs for My Fair Lady is the growth
that one can hear in Eliza’s character, starting with her desire for simple creature
comforts in “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” through her other numbers that show her
changing relationship with Higgins and developing language skills, which spawns
30 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
her increasing confidence. By the time we get to her last solo number, “Without
You” in Act 2, Scene 5, she has freed herself from Higgins’s direct influence and
faces him as an equal, throwing his own words and teaching phrases at him to
mock his pretensions and assumption of superiority.129 He has earned this treat-
ment by his lack of consideration for her throughout their relationship, especially
following the ball the night before. Eliza and Higgins argue about what Eliza
should do at this point and where she should live, leading to “Without You.”130
Bennett split the orchestrations for My Fair Lady with Philip Lang with addi-
tional work by Jack Mason; Suskin reports that this became one of Bennett’s
numbers when his version replaced an earlier attempt by Lang.131 Eliza’s mood
is carefree: she has triumphed over Higgins, an affect that sounds in the orches-
tra once the refrain begins. The verse on the recording opens with a plaintive
oboe solo, a contemplative sound as Eliza remonstrates with herself for having
overestimated Higgins in the past. (This short introduction does not appear in
the piano/vocal score.) Eliza speaks over the melody in the strings from 0’05” to
0’10” and then joins the violins as she starts to sing. The verse concludes between
0’16” and 0’22”, with violins and oboe and punctuation of harp at the end of each
short phrase. The overall form of the remainder of the song is AABACA with the
orchestration of the first three A sections being fairly similar. The initial A opens
at 0’23” with a prominent cello countermelody, harp and bells sounding after each
short phrase. At 0’32”, flute and clarinet double the melody for the second half of
the section. This blithe, breezy accompaniment more or less repeats for the next
A section, concluding with jaunty fill-ins by violins and winds and perhaps soft
trumpets as Eliza sings her long note on “do” (0’54”ff).132 The B section finds
Eliza mostly singing half-notes as she consigns Higgins to eternal damnation with
what would rhyme with “well,” humorously backing away from it by naming the
three places whose names start with “h” that Higgins made her to recite so many
times. Bennett captures her glee in this section with a simple melodic doubling
in the violins and reeds. The A section sounds again from 1’13” to 1’28”. The
orchestration changes completely for the C section, where Eliza notes that vari-
ous natural phenomena—the spinning earth, the tide—continue without Higgins’s
help. These implied motions sound in the orchestra with eighth-note noodling
between adjacent pitches; the piano/vocal score suggests trombones, probably
muted,133 with pizzicato punctuation in vocal rests, droll counterpoint to Eliza’s
irony. When she sings “clouds roll by” at 1’39”, treble instruments suddenly
double her as her thoughts drift skyward. At 1’43”, where Eliza refers to others
who do not require Higgins’ presence, the orchestra enforces Eliza’s music hall
moment with short notes in the strings and a rude trombone slide. The final A
section (1’48”ff) includes cellos and perhaps a bassoon doubling the melody, with
violins joining her at 1’55”. Subtle decorations from the flute set up the orchestral
fanfare, including trumpets, sounding on Eliza’s final “you.” Bennett captures
Eliza’s ebullient mood and provides musical contrast when necessary. At the end
of the song’s recording, Eliza stands triumphant, but that is not how the song
ended on stage. Rex Harrison could not stand to be told off in such a fashion by
a woman and refused to stay on stage for the song until Lerner and Loewe wrote
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 31
him a riposte that follows immediately based on the song “You Did It.” He takes
full credit for Eliza’s newfound strength. According to cues in the piano/vocal
score, the short segment carries a fairly full orchestration with extensive use of
brass.134

“The Party’s Over”

The song was the major hit from Bells Are Ringing by Jule Styne, Betty Comden,
and Adolph Green, recorded many times by famous artists. It is a melancholy,
slow ballad, sung by the main character, Elle, who works at a telephone answer-
ing service and gets mixed up in the lives of her clients. One, Jeff, is a writer who
has fallen in love with Elle, believing her name to be Melisande Scott. He invites
her to a party at an associate’s penthouse in Act 2, but Elle/Melisande does not
mix well with his snooty friends, as heard in the previous number “Drop That
Name,” one of Comden and Green’s delightful list songs. When alone Elle writes
Jeff a note, sings this song “with a sort of trancelike state,” and leaves the party.135
Styne conceived a rueful, mostly stepwise melody that carries a similar feeling as
George and Ira Gershwin’s “But Not for Me” from Girl Crazy.136 Styne eschews
a B section, with a verse and an AAA’ refrain, followed by a short tag after the
second A and later a coda for choir.
Bennett’s realization of “The Party’s Over” on the original cast recording is a
rueful ballad that here sounds like one through the verse and first two A sections,
but the concluding A’ includes unusual choices that probably started with Styne’s
piano/vocal version of the song. This is Elle’s saddest moment of the show where
she gives up hope for a future with Jeff and faces hard truths about herself, but, as
shown below, the song has a quasi-triumphant ending with the addition of a choir
and various effects from the orchestra. The instrumental opening is a bare B major
arpeggio from the celeste that Elle imitates while singing her first three words, this
initial phrase announcing that Jeff is in love with her alter-ego Melisande. Cues in
the piano/vocal score suggest accompaniment for the verse of muted strings and
woodwinds, the former dominating on the original cast recording with violins usu-
ally doubling the voice. Later cues for celeste and harp in the verse do not sound
on the recording. In the refrain’s first two A sections (0’29”ff, 1’03”ff) strings con-
tinue with some audible woodwinds, including bass clarinet. The score suggests
fill-ins for celeste, but one only hears a few notes from it. To this point, Bennett
has emphasized subtlety, allowing Elle to muse over primarily string accompani-
ment. This changes at A’ (1’49”ff), where Elle sings three measures of vocables
in a counter-melody as the violins start the A section and one hears a brief flutter
from the flute. As the text resumes, Elle recalls how “right” it felt when she dated
Jeff (1’57”ff), and this reverie takes over the song.137 Woodwinds gradually join
violins doubling the melody and a single pitch from the celeste prefaces a choral
entrance with fuller orchestra. The voices sing the remainder of the text from the
second A in a rich scoring with a descending harp arpeggio interrupting at 2’26”
and brass fanfare based on A material (2’31”ff) concluding the number with final-
ity. It is the first obvious brass entrance that one hears in the arrangement. These
32 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
are Bennett’s showiest gestures in the song, apparently invoking Elle’s nostalgia
about Jeff, but a quiet ending might have better served the dramatic moment.

“Do – Re – Mi”
The appearance of this song in the popular imagination hails from the 1965 film
of The Sound of Music, where Julie Andrews as Maria starts to teach the children
the song, playing her guitar while seated in a stunning Alpine meadow. She then
leads the children in singing the song all over Salzburg. As is the case with several
songs in The Sound of Music, this contrasts strongly with the stage version, where
Maria has just met the children and learned how Captain von Trapp wants her to
call them with a naval whistle. He leaves. In the film at this moment, Maria admits
that she has never been a governess, and the children give her terrible advice, a
conversation that only starts in the stage version because Kurt quickly ends it,
saying that he likes this governess. After being asked about her guitar and learn-
ing that the children know no songs, Maria gets it out and teaches them one.138
Orchestrations in both stage version and film are memorable, turning a children’s
song into a sophisticated march.
Bennett’s approach to “Do – Re – Mi” celebrates its martial quality, gradu-
ally adding elements that would be comfortable in a Sousa march until its full
revelation in the last tutti. The published piano/vocal score of The Sound of Music
includes a number of cues written into the piano part that follow Bennett’s arrange-
ment as heard on the recording.139 The opening ostinatos include the harpist pluck-
ing eighth notes in octave leaps on the dominant and violins holding those notes
throughout the introduction. When Maria enters, cellos double her, later joined by
bassoon, while oboe and clarinets double the children, as heard at 0’20”. Bennett
interjects heavier scoring at 0’33”ff to end the introduction, the refrain starting at
0’41”. Maria sings over held chords in the strings with a guitar on stage marked in
the score, but it is barely audible on the recording, if present. Bennett tends to add
instruments each time the refrain reaches “Sew, a needle…,”140 bassoon entering
at 0’58” and the first fill-in by upper reeds at 1’01”, an idea repeated frequently.
Harp joins at 1’14” and strings at 1’30”, with cellos again doubling the melody.
The children sing the melody the second time through starting at 1’44”. Flute,
clarinet, and the guitarist on stage provide a countermelody in quarter notes with
accompanying chords in the orchestra. Bennett prepares the tutti that accompa-
nies “Sew…” (where Maria re-enters) with arpeggios in the upper reeds and a
harp glissando. The brass does not become obvious until a descending scale at
2’18” that helps close the segment. The orchestra rests as Maria explains how one
mixes the notes up to make a melody and teaches one to the children. Instruments
enter as they sing the new melody for the second time with an accompaniment
not unlike what one hears at the beginning of the first refrain but with trumpet
softly doubling the melody and emphasis on the “oom-pahs” that define the march
meter. More dialogue ensues at 3’16” over a simple accompaniment featuring a
clarinet countermelody in half-notes that starts a new, layered crescendo in the
orchestra. At 3’24”, when Maria sings about what is possible once someone has
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 33
learned the “notes,” the flute and clarinet begin a lively countermelody like what
one might hear on the repeat of a Sousa march. At 3’40” the children join Maria
on the repeat with piccolo added to the figure in the upper reeds and strings now
on half-notes, the segment completed with a descending scale including the brass.
At 3’55” the children take turns holding notes of the ascending scale as they sing
the tune and the full march has been launched tutti with prominent piccolo. At
4’34” the children sing a new countermelody on solfege syllables, the piccolo and
other upper reeds providing a music box effect based on earlier material, joined
a phrase later by a more obvious “oom-pah” accompaniment. The march with
all elements returns with the refrain at 5’00”, here with brass doubling voices.
Bennett upsets expectations by cutting the brass at 5’15”, making the orchestra
softer at “Sew.” The only new element for the remainder of the number is a full
ensemble sound from Maria and the singers and a symphonic effect from the
orchestra on strong chords at 5’29”ff, a mock-heroic ending before Maria’s silly
descending scale reminds us that this is a children’s song, but with an orchestra-
tion of satisfying variety, drive, and pacing.

“No Other Love”

As noted above, Don Walker worked often on Richard Rodgers’s scores. Me and
Juliet (1953) remains one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s lesser-known shows.
It was a backstage view of a musical with a serious love triangle that did not
land as well with audiences as their major hits, but “No Other Love” became a
well-known song, partly because a few years before Rodgers provided the theme
to Robert Russell Bennett for use in Victory at Sea. Rodgers marked the song
“Tempo di Tango,” and indeed it includes the Argentinian dance’s duple meter
and some of its characteristic rhythms.141 The first time the song sounds in the
show is in Act 1, Scene 5 when the stage manager Larry coaches Jeanie as an
understudy.142 She sings “No Other Love.” He suggests that she start the song
more softly and sings as an example; she joins in and it is clear that Larry is in
love. Jeanie also sings the song at Larry’s request at the end of the show in Act 2,
Scene 7, when he leads a rehearsal.143
Walker’s orchestration for this song is based on the tango. The violin has been
an important accompanying instrument for the dance since the nineteenth century.
Walker was perhaps influenced by this in his decision to feature the strings, build-
ing a rich harmonic background with effective emphasis on tango rhythms, pro-
viding interesting counterpoint with the vocal line’s simpler rhythmic profile. The
AABA tune sounds twice, the two occurrences linked by an instrumental interlude
that does not appear in the piano/vocal score. Jeanie (Isabel Bigley) sings the first
refrain. The section’s orchestration includes occasional melodic doubling. Wind
instruments remain in the background until 0’58” in the B section, when muted
trumpets and others provide the fill-in as Jeanie sings a long note on “free.”144
The final A, which starts at 1’03”, includes more prominent use of winds but the
orchestration remains dominated by strings. The accompaniment for the second
time through the tune as a duet is similar in several details with more doubling of
34 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
the melody for Larry (Bill Hayes). While featuring the strings, Walker’s orches-
tration captures the rhythmic interest that one expects from a tango.

“The Game”
This number opens Act 2 of Damn Yankees. The Washington Senators are in their
locker room with the star Joe Hardy at the baseball commissioner’s office for a
hearing about his mysterious identity.145 The team agrees that they must ignore
outside distractions and concentrate on playing baseball, resulting in this bawdy
song about their attempts to avoid drinking, late nights, and women. Walker
orchestrated this number. It was marked “Marcia” and set in 2/4 with a melody
that features the kind of occasional chromaticism common in writing by march
composers like Sousa.146 Walker strayed little from this inspiration. The open-
ing accompaniment features a strong bass line, subtle reeds, and some melodic
doubling by strings. At 0’28” the refrain closes with a brass fill-in based on the
dominant rhythm in the vocal line, setting up the first verse, where a team mem-
ber recalls an enticing experience with a waitress in Kansas City, whom he left
in the nick of time when he thought about the game. The verse (0’29”ff), ironi-
cally marked “Dolce,” has a subtler version of the march accompaniment as the
player sets up the situation, soft brass fill-ins between phrases as his teammates
enjoy his story, such as at 0’35”ff. At 0’47” a recitative ensues describing the
compromising situation, accompanied by held chords in the strings and punctu-
ated by suggestive glissandi in strings and woodwinds based on seventh chords
with added tones (0’50”ff), a striking effect. At 1’00”, the teammates start to
chant “Yeah?” over string tremolo and several bass instruments, introducing the
refrain.147 This description applies to much of the remainder of the song with some
softer march accompaniments that include different brass fill-ins (e.g., 2’18”ff)
and chords underneath recitative, the latter especially effective at 2’29” when a
player describes winning in a craps game over half-notes chords in the strings
undulating between A major and G major, a subtle, bell-like sound commenting
on time passing late at night. The song could end at about 3’12” in a choral flour-
ish about being “pure,” but instead Adler and Ross introduce a story where two of
the players ran out of gas outside of Philadelphia with two women. Its treatment
is longer and more suggestive than the previous verses, but Walker bases it on the
effects he has already used. The two players are interrupted by the remainder of
the team at 3’59” and Walker provides a full march scoring with numerous flour-
ishes in the brass. His treatment of the tune and manipulation of march tropes by
Adler and Ross to frustrate the men’s libidos is a comical highlight in the score.

“One Hundred Easy Ways”

As noted above, Wonderful Town was one of three shows that perhaps pushed Don
Walker and Chelsea Music past their work capacity in early 1953. This musical—
with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Leonard Bernstein, and
book by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov—was their third to open on three
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 35
consecutive Wednesdays between 11 and 25 February. In terms of official credits,
Ramin and Ginzler were assistant orchestrators but, as Suskin shows, orchestra-
tions were also prepared by six ghost writers, including Kostal.148 “One Hundred
Easy Ways” was a vehicle for Rosalind Russell conceived for her limited singing
ability and expert comic timing. Bernstein made use of swing and blues tropes,
giving the song a distinctive sound from the 1930s.149 In Act 1, Scene 3, Russell’s
character, Ruth, discovers that her younger sister Eileen, a magnet to the opposite
sex, has been having free lunches at a local Walgreen’s and has a date with the
manager.150 Ruth never seems to interest men and suggests that she should write a
book called “One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man.” Eileen laughs and leaves
her to sing this song, setting up the extended joke carried through four verses with
refrains after the second and fourth. Ginzler’s job as orchestrator was to enhance
the jokes and to feature the star.
Bernstein narrowed Ginzler’s instrumental choices by writing a number identi-
fied as “Moderate swing” that features a repeated riff and a melodic line full of
dotted eighth notes followed by sixteenths, a notational approximation of unequal
eighth notes. The composer, however, wrote no suggestions for orchestration in
his piano/vocal score.151 Ginzler drew heavily on the pit orchestra sections associ-
ated with a swing band: reeds, trumpets, trombones, and the trap set. The piano/
vocal score includes a number of instrumental cues, often including piano, but it
is barely audible on the original cast album, if even present. The delicious opening
riff, which sounds a number of times, includes clarinets, saxophones, and brass.
In the spirit of staying out of Russell’s way, Ginzler wrote comparatively few
fill-ins. There is a short one for high reeds and trumpets at 0’08”, which sets up
an unrealized expectation for more orchestral participation. Russell starts her first
story at 0’09” with a witty “oom-pah” accompaniment, the bassoon prominent in
the bass on one and three, sliding into each pitch from a half-step below, and reeds
and string pizzicato notes on off-beats. The score states that bass clarinet doubles
the melody from what would be 0’09” on the recording, but this is inaudible.
After Russell completes her first spoken punchline, there is a delightfully rude
eighth note in the traps and several bass instruments at 0’28”, an effect repeated
at each similar moment. Each time Russell states that her latest suggestion will
help one “to lose a man,”152 it is followed by a brilliant stinger in the trumpets and
other instruments, sounding the first time at 0’32”. After the second verse, the
first refrain begins at 1’02” with clarinets sustaining pitches to help the singer,
trombones playing staccato on the bass line, and string pizzicato, a light and jazzy
accompaniment. Near the conclusion of the second refrain, at 2’26”ff, Russell
notes that her advice will ensure that one will never hear the song “Oh, promise
me,” followed by a distinctive “chink” from glockenspiel and perhaps piano (the
score also says piccolo, but not on the recording), offering a small bell-like sound
that invokes a wedding, where that song was often sung in the middle of the twen-
tieth century. From 2’34”, the coda, the orchestration builds from reeds to brass,
a full swing trumpet sound in flourish from 2’43”ff. It is a subtle orchestration,
but, as noted above, Russell was not a strong singer and her delivery is the song’s
most important feature.
36 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
“Swing”
The authors of the book for Wonderful Town, Joseph Fields and Jerome
Chodorov, wanted to update the musical to the 1950s. Their play, My Sister
Eileen, on which it was based, took place in the 1930s. When Comden, Green,
and Bernstein came on board, they insisted that the story remain in the 1930s;
Bernstein wanted to use elements of swing in the score.153 “Swing” is a valen-
tine to the jazz style that Bernstein grew up listening to and playing with his
friends, with idiomatic moments for orchestra and jazzy patter in the voices.154
The song takes place in Act 2, Scene 2. Ruth has been hired to wear an electric
sign advertising a local swing club; she is embarrassed and tries to sound “hep”
as she chatters about the club.155 Young people designated in the script as the
“Village Hepcats” discover her and begin to chant and dance, inspiring Ruth,
who becomes hilariously “hep.”
Ramin orchestrated “Swing,” although Suskin reports that Walker might have
done the “scat ‘extension’,” one of the song’s spoken sections.156 A description of
Ramin’s love for brassy big bands from the Swing Era appears in Chapter 3; this
chart shows his comfort with the style. Bernstein marked the number “Moderately
light swing,” but included raucous, energetic moments. As Ruth chants her adver-
tisement to open the song, the hi-hat joins her. The “Village Hepcats” enter. One
of them points out the “square” trying to be be “hep” as an introductory clarinet
solo redolent of Benny Goodman’s playing (written by Bernstein, who designated
this for clarinet in his piano/vocal score157) sounds. Ramin gradually builds to a
full swing sound. When Russell starts the first verse at 0’21”, clarinets double
the melody with short fill-ins by trumpets with Harmon mutes; a more promi-
nent fill-in for clarinets and brass sounds at 0’54”. Ramin increases the complex-
ity for the next verse, which begins at 0’57”, retaining the trumpet fill-ins but
adding frequent ones from clarinets. The “Village Hepcats” sing the third verse
at 1’12”ff with even more frequent and elaborate fill-ins and other participation
by trumpets and reeds, bringing the sound in places closer to a full swing band.
Violins sometimes double voices. At 1’21”ff, Russell yells “Oh!,” signifying her
new understanding of the style. The first spoken section begins at 1’34” with
Russell imitating the chorus, the orchestra providing minimal accompaniment.
The singers do not scat-sing; actual words sound throughout, but it is jive talk,
cool and nonsensical. At 1’50”ff the voices perform a short section with fast clap-
ping, accompanied by short notes in the brass, introducing Russell’s extended
spoken section “in a trance,” more jive talk, her character now the coolest of cats.
From 2’36” the chorus joins in the chanting and vocally imitates a trap set while
using body percussion. The pit orchestra re-enters gradually at 3’25”, first with
bass pizzicato and layering in other parts, progressing to the sound of an unbridled
swing band playing with an unusually high level of dissonance. Ramin spreads
the material among trumpets, trombones, and reeds, accompanying a wild dance
and screaming chorus. A riff that sounds first in the trumpets at 4’10” passes
through the orchestra, leading to more chanting from Russell and the chorus until
the final instrumental explosion from 4’39”.
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 37
“Pass the Football”
Among the friends that Ruth and Eileen meet in their new home of Greenwich
Village is Wreck, an out-of-season football star who attended Trenton Tech and
has a knack for ironing women’s clothing, as seen at the beginning of Act 1, Scene
6. Later a passing boy who admires the athlete asks him if is ready for football
season, leading to this song. Wreck bemoans that he learned nothing at school, but
all was forgiven because of his athletic ability.158 Comden, Green, and Bernstein
supplied a lively song replete with jazz and blues references and delightful, ironic
rhymes.159 Bernstein offered no suggestions for orchestration in his piano/vocal
score,160 meaning that Irwin Kostal, ghosting on the chart for Don Walker, pre-
sumably would have been free to proceed in a manner that he wished to help
underline the song’s humor.
The tutti opening includes trombones sliding into bass notes, establishing the
comic affect. As Wreck starts singing at 0’08”, the accompaniment, according
to the piano/vocal score, includes traps, piano (as on other tracks on Wonderful
Town original cast recording, either inaudible or not present), and strings on a
simple countermelody. This continues through 0’40”, where a sudden orchestral
chord introduces the refrain with the title text, which sounds numerous times in
the song, usually with a prominent chord in the woodwinds emphasizing the flat-
seventh blues note in the voice on the word “pass.” At 0’43” in the bass range
numerous instruments provide a prominent B-flat sliding to A, another sound that
becomes familiar in the song. This sets up the dominant before Bernstein’s dis-
junct treatment on dotted rhythms of “Like nothin’…,” answered by five measures
of the same, obnoxious material in the orchestra, especially trumpets and violins.
The voice enters on new material at 0’52”, Wreck explaining specifics of his lack
of intellectual attainment, strings proving an “oom-pah” accompaniment with
numerous, delicate woodwind fill-ins that seem to mock his stupidity. At 1’24”,
Wreck continues his self-deprecative recitation to a new melody, now with string
chords, dotted rhythms in the bass, and more prominent fill-ins in woodwinds and
tutti forces. The new section at 1’42” is more or less a repeat of 0’52”, and nothing
new happens in the orchestra until 2’54”, when Wreck grandiloquently declares
his presence in the school’s hall of fame. Bernstein supplied an “Alla marcia”
marked tutti with predictable march tropes: a descending quarter note line in the
bass, representative rhythms, and heavily scored triplet fill-ins. From 3’03”, the
last statement of the title text, Kostal loaded up on the bass instruments for the
frequent B-flat sliding to A in the bass and on the familiar line in dotted rhythms.

Conclusion
As is the case in the other numbers described above from Wonderful Town, in
“Pass the Football” Bernstein, Comden, and Green wrote a song loaded with
ironic possibilities, brought to final fruition by Kostal in his orchestration. In other
examples described above, the role of orchestrators ranged from competently pre-
dictable, such as Walker’s approach to the tango “No Other Love,” to the more
38 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
imaginative, heard in Bennett’s many, martial touches that complement various
lines in “Do—Re—Mi.” In these cases, Walker and Bennett provided the final
touches to songs that perhaps would have been winners with different orchestra-
tions, but they chose the instrumental sounds by which the songs first became
known. Their contributions could be considered no more than accidents of his-
tory, because other orchestrators might have done the work; as we have seen,
charts often got passed to other hands when time got short. Given the importance
of original cast albums in a show’s legacy, however, the conditions that dictated
who orchestrated a song form an important factor in a song’s legacy.
We have seen from a variety of perspectives in this chapter how these mostly
unsung orchestrators worked and collaborated on Broadway musicals. Perhaps
many in the audience missed their contributions, like they might not notice the
expertise of a wig-maker or make-up artist or lighting designer in providing the
pièce de résistance for a dance or scene but, as we have seen, the orchestrator’s
contribution can be described and appreciated. We now continue that process in
greater detail for the ground-breaking scores for West Side Story and Gypsy.

Notes
1 Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, My Fair Lady [Original London Cast
Recording] (Columbia CK 2015, n.d.), track 7. Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton: An
American Musical, Original Broadway Cast Recording (Atlantic 551093-2, 2015),
disc 2, track 15.
2 Steven Suskin, The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators &
Orchestrations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
3 Larry Stempel, Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater (New York: W.
W. Norton & Co., 2010), 334.
4 Gerald Bordman, American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc., 2001), 634.
5 Bordman, 637.
6 Bordman, 475.
7 Bordman, 634.
8 Bordman, 640–67.
9 Bordman, 653.
10 Suskin, 14.
11 Frances Barulich, “Harms,” The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2013), vol. 4, 54.
12 Francis Barulich and Jonas Westover, “Chappell,” The Grove Dictionary of American
Music, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), vol. 2, 193.
13 Suskin, 15.
14 Suskin, 16.
15 Suskin, 17.
16 Suskin, 16.
17 Suskin, 16.
18 Suskin, 23.
19 Suskin, 578.
20 George J. Ferencz, ed., “The Broadway Sound”: The Autobiography and Selected
Essays of Robert Russell Bennett (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1999),
235.
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 39
21 Suskin, 18.
22 Suskin, 18.
23 “Income of Families and Persons in the United States: 1950,” https​:/​/ww​​w​.cen​​sus​.g​​ov​
/li​​brary​​/publ​​icati​​ons​/1​​952​/d​​emo​/​p​​60​-00​​9​.htm​​l, accessed 6 August 2020.
24 Suskin, 18–19.
25 Neil Gould, Victor Herbert: A Theatrical Life (New York: Fordham University Press,
2008), 240.
26 Barrymore Laurence Scherer, “Benjamin’s Ragtime Band Captures the Real Cohan,”
Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2008, D-7; quoted in: Dominic Symonds, “Orchestration
and Arrangement,” pp. 266–80 of The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical, ed.
Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris, and Stacy Wolfe (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2011), 268.
27 Symonds, 269.
28 Robert Russell Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking (Melville, NY: Belwin Mills, 1975),
8–9.
29 John Pareles, “What Is the Sound of Broadway? Hans Spialek Knows,” New York
Times, April 17, 1983: 35.
30 Symonds, 271.
31 Internet Broadway Database, accessed August 8, 2020.
32 George Beiswanger, “After Victor Herbert: The Battle of the Orchestras,” Theatre
Arts 28, no. 1 (January 1944): 44.
33 Beiswanger, 45.
34 Laurie Winer, “Orchestrators Are Tired of Playing Second Fiddle,” New York Times,
July 29, 1990: H5.
35 Herbert Warren Wind, “Profile: Another Opening, Another Show,” The New Yorker
26 (November 17, 1951): 48.
36 Suskin, 498.
37 Pareles.
38 Beiswanger, 45.
39 Don Walker, “Music Goes ‘Round: A Gentleman Who Arranges Theatre Tunes Tells
How He Works,” New York Times, April 12, 1942: X1.
40 According to Roy Benton Hawkins, Bennett composed about 11 hours of music for
the series, much of it based upon the 17 pages of music that Rodgers gave him. See:
Roy Benton Hawkins, “The Life and Work of Robert Russell Bennett” (PhD disserta-
tion, Texas Tech University, 1989), 120.
41 Suskin, 24.
42 Suskin, 25.
43 Wind, 62. Bennett stated, for example, that Saddler’s arrangements for Jerome Kern’s
Princess Theatre shows included “One fine idea after another” (p. 62).
44 Ferencz, 9.
45 Ferencz, 10.
46 Ferencz, 11.
47 Ferencz, 275.
48 Ferencz, 99–100.
49 Ferencz, 70.
50 Wind, 62.
51 Ferencz, 264–65. Bennett had one more service to provide for Rachmaninov: his
widow asked Bennett to complete the two-piano reduction of his Piano Concerto No.
4, left unfinished at the Russian composer’s death (Ferencz, 265, note 5).
52 Wind, 66.
53 Suskin, 28.
54 Ferencz, 186–87. According to Hawkins (p. 104), Eugene Ormandy conducted the
Philadelphia Orchestra 12 times in performances of the Four Freedoms Symphony.
40 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
55 Hawkins (pp. 126–29) covers this work for NBC, done as part of a project called
Project XX, initially designed to be documentaries on important events of the twenti-
eth century, but it branched out into many subject areas.
56 Hawkins, 132.
57 Ferencz, 239.
58 Hawkins, 99–100.
59 Ferencz, 329.
60 Ferencz, 240.
61 Ferencz, 241.
62 Ferencz, 71.
63 Ferencz, 254.
64 Ferencz, 254.
65 Ferencz, 254.
66 Ferencz, 254–56.
67 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 4.
68 Quoted in Wind, 48.
69 Quoted in Wind, 48.
70 Wind, 65.
71 This description of how Bennett worked on a Broadway orchestration project ema-
nates from Wind, 67–73.
72 Wind, 68.
73 Wind, 71.
74 Wind, 72.
75 Wind, 46.
76 Modern Music 9, no. 4 (May-June 1932): 148–52.
77 Quoted in: Ferencz, 280.
78 Ferencz, 282.
79 Ferencz, 279–322.
80 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 3.
81 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 4. Bennett was a creature of his generation.
Virtually every pronoun in the book is masculine, even when writing about instru-
ments today strongly associated with female players, like the flute.
82 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 4.
83 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 5–6.
84 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 116.
85 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 6.
86 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 10.
87 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 12.
88 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 14–55.
89 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 56. The emphasis is Bennett’s.
90 The material in this paragraph derives from: Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking,
56–65.
91 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 60.
92 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 66–106.
93 The material in this paragraph derives from: Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 107–12.
94 The material in this paragraph derives from: Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 113–18.
95 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 113.
96 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 115.
97 Bennett, Instrumentally Speaking, 167.
98 Ferencz, 196.
99 Suskin, 99.
100 Peter Purin, “An Examination of Don Walker’s Style of Orchestration in The Pajama
Game, The Most Happy Fella, and The Music Man,” American Music Research
Center Journal 19 (2010): 42.
 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s 41
101 Suskin, 100.
102 Suskin, 102.
103 Suskin, 103.
104 Suskin, 103.
105 Suskin, 103.
106 Lewis Nichols, “The Play,” New York Times, April 21, 1944, 14.
107 Internet Broadway Database, www​.ibdb​.com, accessed August 18, 2020.
108 Suskin, 104.
109 Lewis Nichols, “The Play,” New York Times, May 25, 1945, 23.
110 Bordman, 634.
111 Brooks Atkinson, “At The Theatre,” New York Times, June 14, 1951, 30.
112 Suskin, 360.
113 Suskin, 358–60.
114 Dominic McHugh, “‘I’ll Never Know Exactly Who Did What’: Broadway Composers
as Musical Collaborators,” Journal of the American Musicological Society, 68, no. 3
(Fall 2015): 614.
115 Suskin, 106.
116 Suskin, 106–07.
117 Humphrey Burton, Leonard Bernstein (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 225–26.
118 Suskin, 107.
119 Suskin, 578.
120 Suskin, 369–70, 504–05, 538–39.
121 Suskin, 107.
122 Suskin, 539.
123 Suskin, 108.
124 Suskin, 479.
125 Purin, 50.
126 Suskin, 482.
127 Purin, 52.
128 Suskin, 109–12. Suskin quotes Walker on p. 110 and on the other pages he makes
some of the points found in this paragraph.
129 Score: Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner, My Fair Lady ([No place identi-
fied]: Chappell/Intersong Music Group—USA and Hal Leonard, 1969), 226–31.
Recording: Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, My Fair Lady [Original London
Cast Recording] (Columbia CK 2015, n.d.), track 14. The Broadway orchestrations
were also used in London.
130 Book: Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, My Fair Lady (New York: Coward-
McCann, Inc., 1956), 169–80, esp. 177–79.
131 Suskin, 485.
132 The piano/vocal score provides a number of instrumental cues, including the addition
of trumpets at this juncture (p. 228), but they are not obvious on the recording. The
score is also the source for the song lyrics referenced in this description.
133 Score: Loewe and Lerner, 230.
134 Score: Loewe and Lerner, 231.
135 Book: Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne, Bells Are Ringing (New York:
Random House, 1957), 139. The song is in Act 2, Scene 3 (pp. 128–39).
136 Score: Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne, Bells Are Ringing (New York:
Chappell & Co., Inc., 1957), 120–23. Recording: Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and
Jule Styne, Bells Are Ringing (Columbia SK 89545, 2001), track 13.
137 Score: Comden, Green, and Styne, Bells Are Ringing is the source for the song lyrics
referenced in this description.
138 Book: Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse,
The Sound of Music: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical (New
York: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2010), 30–46, esp. 39–46.
42 Broadway orchestration in the 1950s
139 Score: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, The Sound of Music (New York:
Williamson Music, Inc., 1960). “Do – Re – Mi” and its encore are on pp. 39–58.
Recording: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, The Sound of Music
(Columbia Broadway Masterworks/Sony Classical SK 60853, 1998), track 5.
140 Score: Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Sound of Music is the source for the song lyr-
ics referenced in this description.
141 Score: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Me and Juliet (New York:
Williamson Music, Inc., 1953), 81–87. Recording: Richard Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein II, Me and Juliet (RCA Victor 09026-61480-2, 1993), track 6.
142 Book: Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Me and Juliet (New York:
Random House, 1953), 41–68, esp. 63–65.
143 Rodgers and Hammerstein, book of Me and Juliet, 140–42.
144 Score: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Me and Juliet is the source for the song lyric refer-
enced in this description.
145 Book: George Abbott, Douglass Wallop, Richard Adler, and Jerry Ross, Damn
Yankees (New York: Random House, 1956), 113–21.
146 Score: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Damn Yankees (Port Chester, NY: Cherry Lane
Music Co., Inc., 1983), 102–16. Recording: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Damn
Yankees (RCA Victor 3948-2-RG, 1988), track 10.
147 Score: Adler and Ross, Damn Yankees is the source for the song lyrics referenced in
this description.
148 Suskin, 578–79.
149 Score: Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, Wonderful Town
(Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard, Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC,
Boosey & Hawkes, 2004), 46–51. Recording: Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and
Adolph Green, Wonderful Town (MCA Broadway Gold Classics, 1990), track 3.
150 Book: Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and
Adolph Green, Wonderful Town: A New Musical Comedy (New York: Random House,
1953), 31–39, esp. 37–39.
151 Library of Congress, Leonard Bernstein Collection, Folder 1080/14.
152 Score: Bernstein, Comden, and Green, Wonderful Town is the source for the song lyr-
ics referenced in this description.
153 Burton, 224.
154 Score: Bernstein, Comden, and Green, 136–55. Recording: Bernstein, Comden, and
Green, track 11.
155 Book: Fields, Chodorov, etc., 135–46, esp. 140–46.
156 Suskin, 579.
157 Library of Congress, Bernstein Collection, Folder 1080/20. In addition to writing the
first line for the solo clarinet, Bernstein also provided a few measures of ideas for the
percussion and marked in where it could play ad libitum early in the song, but there
are no other instrumental indications in the piano/vocal score.
158 Book: Fields, Chodorov, etc., 61–103, esp. 66–69.
159 Score: Bernstein, Comden, and Green, 72–83. Recording: Bernstein, Comden, and
Green, track 6.
160 Library of Congress, Bernstein Collection, Folder 1080/17.
3 West Side Story and Gypsy
Composers and orchestrators

Introduction
This chapter will serve to introduce the people responsible for the music in these
scores: Leonard Bernstein (1918–90), Sid Ramin (1919–2019), and Irwin Kostal
(1911–94) for West Side Story; Jule Styne (1905–94), Ramin, and Robert “Red”
Ginzler (1910–62) for Gypsy. Bernstein’s life story is well-known, and Jule
Styne’s biography has been addressed by more than one author. For this chapter,
treatment of their lives will concentrate on their Broadway work before West Side
Story and Gypsy, helping us to understand why they made the choices that they
did for these shows. In Bernstein’s case, this would include his varied composi-
tional career in both concert music and theatrical scores and his strong interest
in such vernacular styles as various types of jazz, blues, traditional Broadway
sounds, and Latin music, providing him with the experience to bring together the
varied styles that one hears used so well in West Side Story. Styne will be consid-
ered as a songwriter with rich experience on Broadway and in Hollywood who as
a young pianist also worked in clubs and burlesque. He drew on these experiences
in Gypsy, where his score features predictable Broadway songs of varied types,
but also numbers that sound like styles cultivated in vaudeville and burlesque in
the 1920s and 1930s.
Ramin, Kostal, and Ginzler are less famous, but the biography of each was
treated by Steven Suskin in his The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of
Orchestrators & Orchestrations, and other sources are also available.1 Ramin
worked on both shows, on an equal basis as co-orchestrator with Kostal in West
Side Story, where Bernstein supervised. For Gypsy, where he worked with Ginzler,
Ramin assumed the leadership and made decisions in terms of which order they
would proceed and who would orchestrate each section. He later regretted that
decision and wished that he had collaborated equally with his friend.2 Previous
experience for each of these three men will be considered to show what they
brought to the orchestration of West Side Story and Gypsy. Important matters
include the rich experience each gained arranging for radio and television, forc-
ing them to learn to work quickly; earlier arrangements each did for Broadway;
Ramin’s great love for the rich use of brass instruments in jazz bands; the fact
that Ramin wrote music more slowly than either Kostal or Ginzler, making their

DOI: 10.4324/9780429023378-3
44 West Side Story and Gypsy
facility an important part of each team; Kostal’s greater knowledge of opera and
concert music than Ramin possessed, crucial for working on Bernstein’s show,
which included many classical influences; and Kostal’s and Ginzler’s strong
experience in assisting other orchestrators with a number of shows. Description
of the careers of each of these men will provide important context to understand
the orchestrating of West Side Story and Gypsy.
Bringing a Broadway score to fruition typically requires the services of sev-
eral figures. A composer and lyricist—sometimes the same person, such as in the
cases of Stephen Sondheim or Stephen Schwartz—writes the songs. The nota-
tion of those numbers might be accomplished by the composer alone or with the
assistance of a more literate musician because the musical training of Broadway
composers has varied substantially. In whatever way that the piano/vocal score
of a new theater song comes to life, at some point it is turned over to the orches-
trator to be arranged for pit orchestra. The work of this specialist is described
in detail in the previous chapter. Other important figures in preparing a score
include the dance arranger, who collaborates with the choreographer on the dance
music, usually using tunes that have been written for the show; the music director,
who works with the orchestra and singers in realizing the score in performance
and sometimes helps with vocal and instrumental arrangements; and sometimes
a music supervisor, who might perform varied duties, including serving as the
composer’s representative as various steps are carried out. Clearly the process
of finishing the music for somewhere between 12 and 20 songs and instrumental
music for dances and other needs within the red-hot cauldron that is a Broadway
rehearsal period is more work than can be done by one person.

Our composers
Leonard Bernstein and Jule Styne both found considerable success on Broadway,
but Styne was far more active in musical theater because he was not simulta-
neously pursuing careers as a conductor, composer of concert music, and com-
mentator on musical topics on television. Styne also worked in more than one
capacity in Hollywood and produced Broadway musicals, but these tasks kept
him involved in the popular entertainment industry, unlike Bernstein’s portfo-
lio as one of the world’s most recognizable classical musicians. The Broadway
careers of each musician and summaries of their other activities will be offered
separately up to the time that they worked on the shows featured in this study.

Leonard Bernstein (1918–90)

Son of two Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who lived in the Boston area, Bernstein
discovered his musical calling at about age ten when an aunt gave his family an
upright piano.3 He gravitated immediately to the instrument and began to pick out
tunes that he heard on the radio, demonstrating his interest in American popular
music. Blessed with a magnificent ear and innate musicality, Bernstein proved a
natural as a classical pianist and later a conductor, but his desire to understand such
 West Side Story and Gypsy 45
vernacular genres as jazz, blues, boogie-woogie, and popular songs is what made
possible his part-time career as a composer of theater music. Bernstein showed
early interest in musical theater by reading opera scores at the piano with his sis-
ter; producing Bizet’s Carmen and two Gilbert and Sullivan shows with neighbor-
hood friends where his family had a summer home in Sharon, Massachusetts; and
leading a production of Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock during his senior
year at Harvard. Bernstein earned an AB in Music there, followed by two years
of master’s study in conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in
1939–41.
Bernstein’s career exploded in 1943–44. Named assistant conductor of the
New York Philharmonic in August 1943, he made a splashy debut substituting
for famed conductor Bruno Walter without rehearsal on a nationally broadcast
concert on 14 November. Bernstein’s life in 1944 sounds like a script from a
Hollywood film: in March and April he conducted his Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah
with orchestras in Pittsburgh, Boston, and New York, and the piece won a pres-
tigious award as the best new symphonic work by an American composer; he
began his career as a guest conductor with several orchestras in the United States
and Canada, what became his principal occupation for much of his career; his
ballet score Fancy Free, written for choreography by Jerome Robbins (1918–98),
premiered with the Ballet Theatre in April and became a smash hit; and his first
Broadway musical, On the Town, premiered in late December with great suc-
cess. Few musicians in American history have found success in such diverse areas
within a period of 14 months.
Despite the wide breadth of Bernstein’s career, we will concentrate on his com-
positions in the realm of musical theater that preceded West Side Story, encom-
passing three Broadway shows, one opera, incidental music for two plays, with a
stop to consider his Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety as an example of what
he did with vernacular music in his concert works. Curiously enough, it was the
success of the ballet Fancy Free that launched On the Town. Jerome Robbins con-
ceived the ballet’s scenario, inspired by the constant presence of American sailors
on leave in New York City during World War II.4 In this delightful work, the
audience meets three good friends who go to a bar for beer and to meet women,
but only two show up at once, which leads to a fight. The women flee, leaving
the sailors, who return to their camaraderie at ballet’s end. Robbins incorporated
moves from ballet, modern dance, and social dances, meaning that he needed a
composer who could effectively bring elements of vernacular music into his score,
a search that finally led him to Bernstein. The men became frequent collaborators,
eventually conceiving together three completed ballets, two musicals, and other
incomplete works. Bernstein’s music for Fancy Free was a delightful combina-
tion of tropes from blues, big band jazz, and Latin music combined with music
reminiscent of standard ballet fare, such as nineteenth-century Russian nationalist
composers, Stravinsky, and Copland.5 Robbins and Bernstein could not have cho-
sen a more appropriate time to create the work and it was wildly popular.
Another man who became a lifelong friend and collaborator with Bernstein,
designer Oliver Smith, had provided the stage designs for Fancy Free. He
46 West Side Story and Gypsy
formed a theatrical production team with Paul Feigay, and they convinced
Robbins and Bernstein that the ballet’s scenario might make for a good musical
comedy. Bernstein insisted that his friends Betty Comden and Adolph Green—
who launched their careers in the Greenwich Village improvisatory troupe, The
Revuers—should write the show’s book and lyrics, and the four young artists
quickly decided to write a modern show that carried the type of integration between
plot, music, and dance that recently had been praised in Oklahoma!.6 Without a
known Broadway hand involved, the producers might never have raised the nec-
essary money for On the Town, a problem solved when George Abbott signed on
as director. Abbott became famous writing and directing farces in the 1920s and
1930s and then worked on several musicals with Richard Rodgers and Lorenz
Hart later in the 1930s. Abbott insisted upon speed, never allowing the audience
time to sit back and think about what was happening. His direction and editorial
work on the show constituted important training for Robbins, Bernstein, Comden,
and Green, and surely helped On the Town become the success that it was. The
New Yorkers conceived the show as a love letter to their city, taking three sail-
ors and their new girlfriends to famous venues. The most interesting characters
were the women. Hildy Esterhazy and Claire DeLoone chose Chip and Ozzie,
instead of the other way around. The other woman is Ivy Smith, whom Gabey
sees on a subway poster as “Miss Turnstiles” for June; he simply must find her.
It was a madcap evening with more ballets in it than Oklahoma!, segments partly
made possible by the presence of ballet dancer Sono Osato as Ivy Smith. Comden
and Green played Claire and Ozzie. Bernstein threw himself into the show, not
only writing the songs but also providing music for Robbins’s dances, which he
approached with a similar spirit as he had the score for Fancy Free. His evocation
of modern concert music by such composers as Copland and Stravinsky in On
the Town appeared next to Bernstein’s references to various African American
genres. One of the more dissonant moments in the show is the fanfare that opens
“New York, New York.” “I Feel Like I’m Not Out of Bed Yet” includes a number
of blues tropes, while “Come Up to My Place” is a combination of boogie-woogie
and blues. “I Can Cook, Too” is Hildy’s song of seduction, based on the typical
blues conceit of comparing parts of a woman’s body to various types of food or
cooking equipment. Bernstein provided music based on swing jazz. Gabey’s solo
“Lonely Town” features a delightful ballad melody with several effective blues
notes. Late in Act II, as two of the couples realize that they will soon be parted,
they sing “Some Other Time,” a small masterpiece of wartime sentiment from
Bernstein and his lyricists. Orchestrations for On the Town were executed by
a committee consisting of Bernstein, Hershy Kay, Don Walker, Elliott Jacoby,
and Ted Royal. The show was lucrative for Bernstein, but his foray into popular
music angered Serge Koussevitzky, his conducting mentor, and the composer did
not bring another full-scale score to Broadway until after the Russian musician’s
death.
Before proceeding too far into Bernstein’s career in the theater, it is appropri-
ate to consider how unusual were his level of training and technical ability in com-
parison with his colleagues in the field. Bernstein had the capability to conceive
 West Side Story and Gypsy 47
any musical number in the score, notate it for piano and voice, and orchestrate it.
In an article where he surveys the ways that Broadway composers collaborated
with other musicians on producing their scores, Dominic McHugh provides case
studies of Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Frederick Loewe, and
the team of Robert Wright and George Forrest, useful context for how we will
observe Bernstein working on West Side Story in Chapter 4. Rodgers produced
fair copies for each of his musical numbers with vocal lines and piano parts that
often closely resemble published piano-vocal score versions, including the “con-
trapuntal devices, accompaniment figures, and melodic ‘fills’ as well.”7 Porter
also was capable of producing a fair copy of his songs, but few such sources
actually survive. Porter preferred to dictate his songs to an assistant, often Albert
Sirmay.8 Frank Loesser, according to McHugh, “had an innate musical instinct
but was reluctant to engage with notation.”9 His willingness to do so, however,
increased as his career progressed, and by the time he worked on The Most Happy
Fella, Loesser sketched most of his ideas and then allowed an assistant to produce
fair copies.10 Loewe was capable of writing out a detailed fair copy—his pro-
cess was similar to that of Rodgers—but as his career progressed he collaborated
closely with arranger Trude Rittmann, who wrote out fair copies. Loewe checked
every note of the score before it went to the orchestrators.11 In the collaboration of
Wright and Forrest, which often included adapting and rewriting music by various
classical composers, Forrest did the musical adaptation and wrote the music for
their own songs, but he relied on arrangers to prepare fair copies.12 McHugh only
credits Loewe among his five case studies with being able to conceive a musi-
cal idea in terms of its orchestration, but on rare occasions Rodgers and Loesser
included instrumental suggestions in their scores.13 In contrast, as will be shown
in Chapter 4, Bernstein usually took an active role in the process of orchestrat-
ing his shows. Kurt Weill tried to orchestrate all of his own shows, but even
he, another fully trained musician who, like Bernstein, also wrote concert music,
brought in assistants when he ran out of time.14
Until the 1950s, Bernstein spent far more time in the world of concert music
than in the theater, including in his composing. His Symphony No. 2, The Age of
Anxiety, premiered on 8 April 1949 with the composer as solo pianist and Serge
Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The piece is worthy
of brief consideration here because it shows that Bernstein’s interest in vernacu-
lar music also penetrated his symphonies. The work’s program derives from the
Pulitzer-prize winning poem The Age of Anxiety by W. H. Auden.15 Three men
and a woman meet in a bar and spend a night drinking and talking. Towards the
end of the poem, the woman, who is Jewish, references the Shema Yisrael, the
religion’s most significant prayer, perhaps the hook that helped make the poem
important for the Jewish Bernstein. The eclectic composer referenced a number of
musical styles in the piece, saving his most obvious vernacular reference for the
“Masque,” an imitation of bop and swing jazz. The solo piano part is obviously
based upon the dissonances, angular melodies, and cross-rhythms that one would
expect from jazz pianists in the 1940s, and Bernstein also uses other instruments
in the orchestra for gestures that suggest bop, especially the percussion. Auden’s
48 West Side Story and Gypsy
characters do their share of partying, which Bernstein portrayed with music that
he might have wanted to listen to while imbibing with his friends. The concluding
“Epilogue” opens with similar material, but changes to dramatically contrasting
music somewhat reminiscent of Copland.
Bernstein’s next foray into theater music was an incidental score for a produc-
tion of James M. Barrie’s Peter Pan that opened on 24 April 1950. Asked to write
several dances and short instrumental segments to help set moods, Bernstein went
overboard and also composed five songs and two choruses for which he wrote
his own lyrics. It is an unusual score for the composer. In such songs as “Build
My House” and “Dream with Me,” he evoked the simplicity and sweetness of a
child’s world, while also providing menacing music when needed. Assisting him
in preparing the score were arranger Trude Rittman and orchestrator Hershy Kay.
Bernstein’s friend Marc Blitzstein revised the score as needed during rehearsals
because Bernstein was conducting in Europe at the time.
Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, his first opera, premiered in June 1952 at the
initial Brandeis University Festival of the Creative Arts. He served as his own
librettist in this 40-minute work, which has remained a staple in the repertory
for opera workshops in schools of music and in some professional productions,
although its short length limits its presence in opera houses. Bernstein became a
social commentator in Trouble in Tahiti, depicting an unhappy marriage in a typi-
cally “perfect” suburb in postwar America. His inspiration was the difficult home
where he grew up, naming the husband Sam after his father and the wife Dinah,
after his paternal grandmother. At one point he used his mother’s name, Jennie,
for the wife, but apparently reconsidered; as Burton suggests, “Dinah” also was a
more “singable” name.16 Like most of his musical theater scores, Bernstein based
much of his music on various vernacular styles, fashioning a piece that continues
to ring true as a satirical look at its time. Besides the couple, the only other char-
acters are a trio of two men and a woman that opens the opera with a parody of
slick, jazzy commercial music. The trio returns on occasion. The opera’s unusual
title refers to a film that Dinah attends in the afternoon to escape for a few hours
from her unhappy life, and then she allows Sam to take her to it again in the even-
ing to avoid having to communicate. In a memorable aria for mezzo-soprano,
“What a movie!,” Bernstein’s lyrics describe Trouble in Tahiti as being in the
silliest of spectacular Hollywood traditions. It is one of the composer’s sparkling
comic creations that operates simultaneously on three levels with Dinah spoofing
the film while also getting caught up in it and thinking about her own life. Other
effective scenes include the couple’s ugly breakfast, Dinah’s visit to her analyst,
and a rueful moment when the two leads meet by chance at lunchtime, but both
lie to avoid eating together. The sorrowful duet that follows their brief encounter
shows the powerful music that Bernstein could write in service of this domestic
tragedy, very different than his musical comedies.
The genesis of Wonderful Town came from the desire to bring Hollywood star
Rosalind Russell to Broadway to recreate the role of Ruth Sherwood from the
1942 film My Sister Eileen, this time in a musical version. George Abbott and
Robert Fryer held an option on Russell’s services, but the team responsible for the
 West Side Story and Gypsy 49
score had failed to write anything useful. Abbott interested Comden and Green in
the project, and they pulled in Bernstein. Jerome Chodorov and Joseph A. Fields
had written the screenplay for the film and the 1940 play that was its model;
now they were creating the book for the show. They wished to update the story
into the 1950s, but Bernstein was adamant about using musical influences from
1930s swing. It was the first of a number of disagreements among the writers, but
Wonderful Town was a major hit and won eight Tony Awards.17 The plot involved
Ruth and her sister Eileen coming to New York City to make it as a writer and
actress. They move into an apartment in Greenwich Village and have a number of
adventures, making for a similar madcap feeling as existed in On the Town. The
ability to write music that assisted in the development of comic situations was
one of Bernstein’s profound gifts, especially in tandem with lyricists Comden and
Green. In Wonderful Town, effective humorous songs include “Ohio,” a delight-
ful duet for the two sisters on their first scary night in New York City, sometimes
verging on country music in style; “One Hundred Easy Ways,” with brilliant use
of Rosalind Russell’s minimal singing ability with jazz and blues tropes and utiliz-
ing her expert timing; “What a Waste,” humorous recognition of what would-be
artists often find themselves doing for a living in New York City; “A Little Bit in
Love,” Eileen’s coy explanation of why she never ends up with one guy; “Pass the
Football,” a boisterous approach to the absurdity of college sports; “Conversation
Piece,” a spot-on spoof of an awkward social gathering; “Conga!,” a list song and
dance poking fun at rambunctious conga lines; “My Darlin’ Eileen,” a parody
of an Irish song sung by policemen who have arrested the irresistible younger
Sherwood sister; and “Wrong Note Rag,” a witty combination of this African
American genre with dissonances redolent of Stravinsky.
The 1950s were Bernstein’s most prolific years on Broadway, including also
The Lark (1955), Candide (1956), West Side Story (1957), and The Firstborn
(1958). His two projects following Wonderful Town both involved Lillian
Hellman, who translated French playwright Jean Anouilh’s L’Alouette and asked
Bernstein to write an incidental score for the play, and also conceived the idea
for Candide and wrote its book. The Lark portrayed the life of Joan of Arc.
Hellman’s version found success, opening on 17 November 1955 and running for
229 performances.18 Bernstein would have been hard-pressed to approach the story
with his usual compositional inspirations. What he wrote for settings of French
and Latin texts combined influences from the Middle Ages and Renaissance with
aspects of his concert music in compelling pieces for choir and a small number of
percussion instruments. The New York Pro Musica, directed by Noah Greenberg,
recorded Bernstein’s songs for the production.
Candide has one of the most convoluted histories of any work in the genre.
Hellman’s original query to Bernstein involved adapting Voltaire’s novella as
a “combination of opera – prose – songs,”19 which sounds like a budding piece
of musical theater. Hellman biographer William Wright has reported that what
Hellman originally wanted from Bernstein was incidental music for a play and
that it was the enthusiastic Bernstein who dragged a reluctant Hellman into writ-
ing her first musical.20 Whatever the developmental process, the two principal
50 West Side Story and Gypsy
creators never resolved the chasm in tone between their differing conceptions.21
Hellman’s inspiration was McCarthyism and its effect on the American artistic
community. Her domestic partner, famed writer Dashiell Hammett, spent time
in jail and was blacklisted for his left-wing political activism after an appear-
ance before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Hellman
herself appeared before the same body and became a hero among progressives
for her refusal to name others she had known who might have been Communists.
She identified Voltaire’s Candide as a source for satire on American politics and
used the French writer’s Inquisition scene following the Lisbon earthquake to
parody the HUAC proceedings. Bernstein’s score included irony, but with music
primarily inspired by nineteenth-century operetta and such delightful touches as
the wild soprano coloratura of “Glitter and Be Gay” and the powerfully positive
finale “Make Our Garden Grow,” some songs failed to support Hellman’s heavy-
handed satire. Finding a lyricist for the show proved a challenge, but Hellman and
Bernstein finally settled on Richard Wilbur, while retaining some words written
by their first choice, John Latouche. Opening on 1 December 1956, the show
closed after only 73 performances, but the popular original cast recording helped
fuel a search for a winning production. Harold Prince directed the most success-
ful subsequent version at Brooklyn’s Chelsea Theater with a new book by Hugh
Wheeler in 1973, which transferred to Broadway the next year and has been the
basis for later versions. Generally, the show has become a satiric farce with new
lyrics from Stephen Sondheim, both additions to existing songs and new songs
based on Bernstein’s music. Orchestrations for the 1956 version were executed
by Bernstein and Hershy Kay. The writing of West Side Story will be addressed
in Chapter 4, but, as shown above, by the time that show reached Broadway,
Bernstein was already the composer of scores for two successful Broadway musi-
cal comedies, incidental music for two plays, and also composer of the score to
Candide. Bernstein did not work often on Broadway in comparison to some other
composers, but when he did, he had an unusually successful track record.

Jule Styne (1905–94)

Unlike Bernstein, Jule Styne was primarily a songwriter who plied his trade in
Hollywood and on Broadway, but also worked as a singing coach for some well-
known actresses and extensively on the production side in New York theater. As
a Broadway composer, Styne collaborated with a number of important lyricists,
book writers for musical theater, and screenwriters.22
Julius Stein (later changed to “Styne” because he had the same name as the
founding head of the Music Corporation of America) was born on the last day of
1905 to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who lived at the time in London, England,
a similar ethnic background to that of Bernstein. His parents owned a shop in
London and struggled to make ends meet. His father had been an amateur wrestler
in the Ukraine and occasionally competed in London, but another of his inter-
ests was the music hall, facilitating his son’s first brush with the entertainment
industry. Young Jule jumped on stage when they were attending one night and
 West Side Story and Gypsy 51
sang a song, and the star suggested that he should have piano lessons, which
the boy began, studying for about a year before his family moved to Chicago.23
There his education as a pianist restarted after several months and in less than a
year he placed in a competition for young pianists and played the Rondo from F.
J. Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D with the Chicago Symphony. Performances for
the prodigy followed with orchestras in St. Louis and Detroit. He also became
involved in music at temple, singing in the choir and demonstrating his musical
ear to the cantor, whom Styne sometimes offended with what he said about the
music-making.24 By the time he was in his early teens, it was clear that Styne
would have small hands, dashing his possibilities as a concert pianist. He dis-
covered popular music and began to play in a dance band at about the age of 13,
and not long thereafter substituted as a pianist at a burlesque house. Chicago was
awash in blues and jazz, which Styne quickly started playing. Soon he was writing
his own songs and playing in bands, including a group led by Frank Trumbauer,
an important, white jazz saxophonist. In 1923 they played a gig in Davenport,
Iowa, where they were joined by a teenaged Bix Beiderbecke, who soon moved
to Chicago.25
After leading a group (with Benny Goodman playing clarinet) at the Bismarck
Hotel in summer 1924, Styne went to Florida to play with a band for the winter
season, where he continued to play in ensembles and published his first song,
“Sunday.” He spent some time playing in a ten-piece band back in Chicago led
by drummer Ben Pollock at the Southmoor Hotel, an ensemble that also included
Goodman and Glenn Miller, and then Styne became music director at the Granada
Theater.26 His gig work with various groups in Chicago and occasional direct-
ing ensembles caused him to work for the mobsters who ran the city’s nightlife,
including engagements where he was hired by Al Capone and others where he
had close encounters with dangerous situations. For example, as bandleader at the
225 Club, Styne was leaving the gig when the owner and other associates were
murdered.27 All the while, however, he deeply absorbed popular music, excellent
training for a songwriter. In September 1927, Styne married Ethel Rubinstein,
but soon decided that he did not love her. His bride, however, refused to divorce
him when he intentionally gave her grounds, and they were married for a quarter
century.
The next chapter of his career began in New York City, where Styne went in
1934 and began to coach female singers. He soon had a studio at Steinway Hall
and received handsome compensation for his efforts, but he worked with few
singers with any real talent. Styne did this for two years and soaked in the musi-
cal scene, often listening to jazz at clubs on 52nd Street. Connections from earlier
gigs took him to 20th Century-Fox in Hollywood, who needed a vocal coach for
their singing actors. He started out helping such stars as Shirley Temple and Alice
Faye but also began to write songs. When work slowed at the studio his duties
even included touring as pianist and vocal coach with actress Constance Bennett
for eight weeks as she promoted her beauty products, launching the two into a
brief affair.28 In early 1941, Styne moved to Republic Pictures, where the head
of the music department was Cy Feuer, later an important Broadway producer.
52 West Side Story and Gypsy
Styne’s duties included vocal coaching, conducting, playing piano, overseeing
musical scenes on the set, and writing songs. The songwriter hit his full stride
in Hollywood in 1942 when he began to work with lyricist Sammy Cahn. Their
eight-year partnership became one of the more significant in the medium’s history
with such hits as “I’ve Heard That Song Before,” “I’ll Walk Alone,” “There Goes
That Song Again,” “It’s the Same Old Dream,” “Give Me Five Minutes More,”
“The Things We Did Last Summer,” “Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of the
Week,” “Let It Snow,” “Time After Time,” and “It’s Magic,” among others. They
specialized in romantic ballads that soothed feelings for a nation at war. The team
became associated with Frank Sinatra, writing numbers for his films Step Lively
(1943) and Anchors Aweigh (1945) and becoming for a time part of his entourage.
Styne and Cahn collaborated on the musical Glad to See Ya! (1943), but it died in
Boston after a labored run in Philadelphia.29 As will be described below, their next
Broadway collaboration struck gold, but soon thereafter Styne decided to move
onto other partners.30 The two men worked together occasionally in later years,
such as writing the title song for the film Three Coins in the Fountain (1954).
Styne then became primarily involved in musical theater, serving as a producer
and/or composer in 16 productions between 1947 and the opening of Gypsy in
1959. Perhaps part of Styne’s compulsive work schedule was the need to finance
his gambling addiction, which plagued him for years and caused him regularly
to owe money to unsavory people. Whatever the reason, he was one of the lead-
ing players on Broadway for much of the rest of his long life. His first success-
ful project began with his interest in adapting Stephen Longstreet’s new novel
The Girls Liked Them Handsome; Cahn approved of the idea. Longstreet wrote
the show’s book, his only Broadway effort. The musical’s title was High Button
Shoes, produced by Monte Proser and Joseph Kipness. Everything came together
when director George Abbott and choreographer Jerome Robbins joined the
effort.31 The play was set in New Jersey in 1913. It was a star vehicle for Phil
Silvers, playing one of two con men out to swindle the Longstreet family. Nanette
Fabray played the mother. The score included the hits “Papa, Won’t You Dance
with Me?,” a polka, and “I Still Get Jealous,” a soft-shoe. A famous moment was
the “Keystone Kops Ballet” by Robbins. It was based on Styne’s themes, but the
dance’s score was crafted by dance arranger Geneviève Pitot. Suskin reports that
Styne wrote the score to another dance, the “Bathing Beauty Ballet.”32 Phil Lang
did the orchestrations, an early effort in his lengthy career. High Button Shoes was
a hit that ran 727 performances.
Set designer and producer Oliver Smith wanted to revive the idea of turning
Anita Loos’s novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925) into a musical, a project that
had been stalled.33 It had already been a play and a film. Smith convinced Loos
to write the book with Broadway veteran Joseph A. Fields. Smith enlisted Styne
to write the music, and he worked with film lyricist Leo Robin on the score in
California. They were having problems finding the woman to play the lead Lorelei
Lee. The composer saw Carol Channing in the revue Lend an Ear and convinced
his colleagues that she could play the role, believing that he could coach her in
the songs.34 That Channing was brilliant in the show is Broadway legend, helping
 West Side Story and Gypsy 53
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to become a hit that ran for 740 performances. Styne
does not appear to have missed a beat in his new collaboration with Robin, writing
a winning score that included three hits: “Bye, Bye, Baby,” “A Little Girl from
Little Rock,” and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Each tune carried an
individual feeling, such as the country sensibility in “Little Rock.” “Diamonds”
was the show’s most famous song, becoming Channing’s evergreen number until
she did Hello, Dolly! in 1963. The orchestrator for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was
Don Walker. During the show’s creation, Anita Loos introduced Styne to her old
friend Ruth Dubonnet, a chic woman who had been married several times and was
far more comfortable than Styne in polite society. They began a long relationship
but never married.
Styne produced his next Broadway project, Make a Wish, in association with
Harry Rigby and Alexander H. Cohen. Hugh Martin, vocal director and arranger
for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, had written a score of delightful songs, but had no
idea for a book beyond a vague notion of a girl in Paris. The collaboration suffered
from a lack of communication; both Martin, working with Rigby, and Styne pur-
chased rights to separate stories and Martin hired Nanette Fabray to star without
consulting with Styne.35 Fabray was well past the age of the young woman that she
would play. (There are numerous moments when one might question Styne’s busi-
ness sense, or that of a few of his collaborators.) Problems continued to abound.
When the show bombed in Philadelphia, an uncredited Abe Burrows rewrote the
book, originally by Preston Sturges. Orchestrations were by Phil Lang and Allan
Small. Make a Wish opened in New York in April 1951 and ran for only 102 perfor-
mances. Only three months later the revue Two on the Aisle premiered with music
by Styne and lyrics and book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It was their first
of several collaborations. Starring Bert Lahr and Dolores Gray, the show included
funny skits that showcased Lahr’s comedic talents. Dolores Gray sang two top-
drawer songs: “Give a Little, Get a Little” and “If You Hadn’t, But You Did.” The
show ran for 276 performances despite a vicious feud between the two stars.36
One of Styne’s greatest successes as a producer was a revival of Rodgers
and Hart’s Pal Joey, which opened on 3 January 1952. Styne’s co-producer was
Leonard Key and they worked in association with Anthony B. Farrell, but Styne
was the force behind it. He convinced a reluctant Richard Rodgers to give his
blessing and help back the production. Styne decided that dancer Harold Lang
should play the difficult title role and arranged for the coaching he needed as an
actor, convinced Vivienne Segal to reprise her lead role from the original, secured
the use of the Broadhurst Theater from its dubious owner Lee Shubert, and raised
money for a production.37 Styne worked with Robert Alton on Pal Joey, the cho-
reographer returning to the show that he had first worked on in 1940, but in 1952
he also did the musical staging and supervised the production.38 David Alexander
directed. Pal Joey ran 540 performances, eye-opening at the time for a revival.
Styne’s next outing as a producer, the play In Any Language by Edmund Beloin
and Henry Garson, failed.
Styne and Robert Alton wanted to collaborate again after Pal Joey. They
decided to adapt the 1937 comic film, Nothing Sacred, into a musical called Hazel
54 West Side Story and Gypsy
Flagg. Styne secured the rights and hired Ben Hecht, author of the screenplay, to
write the show’s book. Co-producer with Styne was Anthony B. Farrell. With the
book in hand, Styne started to write the score, this time working with lyricist Bob
Hilliard. Styne and Hilliard produced three songs that became known outside of
the show: “Every Street’s a Boulevard in Old New York,” a winning anthem for
the city; “How Do You Speak to an Angel?,” a sweet, almost over-the-top ballad;
and “Salome,” a bump-and-grind number that featured Sheree North’s sensual
dancing.39 Don Walker orchestrated with the help of Jack Mason and Joe Glover
and ballet arrangements were by Oscar Kosarin. Styne had early misgivings about
aspects of the show and he turned out to be right.40 It opened on 11 February
1953 and ran only 190 performances.
Styne’s involvement in Peter Pan was part of an effort to save the show. It was
playing in San Francisco before its scheduled move to Broadway when director/
choreographer Jerome Robbins and others working with him decided they needed
more songs by experienced Broadway writers. Lyricist Carolyn Leigh and com-
poser Mark Charlap had written the existing score. The producers hired Styne,
Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, who wrote eight new songs, among them: the
unusual and sentimental “Neverland” as a theme for the show; “Hook’s Waltz,” an
appropriately evil number; and “Mysterious Lady,” calling for star Mary Martin
to sing coloratura at Captain Hook as an unknown voice in the forest. Styne
remembered Martin’s ability to sing such lines from coaching her in Hollywood
years before.41 Styne had been known to say, “You write as well as who you write
with.”42 With Comden and Green, he found a mutual depth of feeling. The show
got to Broadway in October 1954 and only played 152 performances, but it paid
off its investment when it was sold for live performance on television, and it has
remained popular ever since.
The next year Styne produced (with associate producer Sylvia Herscher, who
worked in his office) the play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. He was work-
ing with writer George Axelrod on a treatment of Rodgers and Hart songs for a
musical, but Rodgers disliked the singers and approach and nixed the project.43
Axelrod instead resolved to write a play. It was a huge success, partly because one
of the stars was the uninhibited Jayne Mansfield.
While working on Peter Pan and Rock Hunter, Styne had been trying to bring
Sammy Davis, Jr. to Broadway. At the time he performed in a nightclub act with
his father and Will Mastin. The younger Davis wanted the project to be a book
show rather than a revue,44 but Styne had difficulty finding any established writers
that were interested. The problem appeared to be Davis’s race, also an issue when
Styne started to raise money. Finally, Joseph Stein and Will Glickman proposed a
workable book that became Mr. Wonderful. Styne auditioned 14 teams of lyricists
and composers, choosing Jerry Bock and Larry Holofcener to write the score,
which they did, eventually with the help of lyricist George Weiss.45 Styne had
conception credit for the show and produced it in association with George Gilbert
and Lester Osterman, Jr. It opened on 22 March 1956 and ran 383 performances
despite poor notices, a tribute to Davis’s star power. On 2 May 1956, Wake Up,
Darling opened on Broadway, a comic play by Alex Gottlieb with songs by Styne
 West Side Story and Gypsy 55
and Leo Robin, with whom he had written the score to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
The show was a washout, running only five performances.
The next project with which Styne was involved struck Broadway gold.
Produced by the Theatre Guild, Bells Are Ringing benefited from the stardom
of Judy Holliday, playing an employee of a telephone answering service who
meddled in the lives of her clients. Jerome Robbins directed and choreographed
the show in tandem with Bob Fosse. Styne wrote music to lyrics by Comden and
Green, an effort that Gerald Bordman has called “comfortably old hat.”46 Such
a comment ignores the score’s diversity, the melodic richness of several songs,
and clever lyrics. Styne’s favorite song from his entire output was “The Party’s
Over,”47 with a melody of unusual power and beauty tied to apt, nostalgic lyrics.
In “Just in Time,” Styne demonstrates in a number of phrases what he can do with
jazzy rhythms and a tiny melodic range, expanding it in places and producing a
delightful ballad. Playing Sullivan to Comden and Green’s Gilbert, Styne knew
how to offer melodic simplicity when his lyricists turned out fast, clever lyrics in
“Drop That Name” and “It’s a Perfect Relationship.” Comden remembered that
Styne “was always asking what’s right for this scene and what’s right for this
character? He was very intuitive about it. It’s not something that everyone has.”48
The orchestrations for Styne’s music were credited to Robert Russell Bennett,
but Suskin discovered that Joe Glover, Philip J. Lang, Don Walker, and Robert
Noeltner also worked on the show.49 Bells Are Ringing opened on 29 November
1956 and ran 924 performances.
In 1957 Styne provided “café music” for the play Miss Lonelyhearts,50 written
by Howard Teichmann after the novel of the same name by Nathanael West. It
only lasted 12 performances. For his next effort, Say, Darling, Styne produced
and wrote the music. His partner was Lester Osterman, Jr. and George Gilbert
served as associate producer. The source material was a novel by the same name
by Richard Bissell, who also wrote 7 ½ Cents on which The Pajama Game (1954)
had been based. For Say, Darling, Bissell produced a fictionalized account of
creating the previous musical. The book for the show finally became the work
of the novelist, his wife Marian Bissell, and Abe Burrows, who also directed
the musical. Styne wrote the score with Comden and Green. They provided
nine songs intended as part of the fictitious show being created. The songs were
broad parodies of various types, such as “It’s the Second Time You Meet That
Matters,” an up-tempo swing number that sounds much like something Styne
might have written for Sinatra but based on the ridiculous notion that is the title;
and the finale, “Something’s Always Happening on the River,” a cloying piece
of Americana that perhaps would have been quickly thrown overboard in Show
Boat. The musical opened on 3 April 1958 and ran for 332 performances.51 In
the theater the accompaniment was two pianos—they were portraying rehearsals,
after all—but RCA Victor released an original cast album with orchestrations
by Sid Ramin and Robert “Red” Ginzler.52 Styne was so impressed by what he
heard that he hired the pair to orchestrate Gypsy the next year. Styne’s collabora-
tion with Comden and Green brought his music to A Party with Betty Comden
& Adolph Green (1958–59), a revue in which the two lyricists performed many
56 West Side Story and Gypsy
songs they had written with a number of composers. It ran for a total of 82
performances.
Styne’s final Broadway foray before Gypsy opened was First Impressions,
based upon Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, produced by George Gilbert and
Edward Specter Productions, Inc. in association with the Jule Styne Organization.
Styne wanted to find an idea for a young song-writing team that interested him,
Robert Goldman and Glen Paxton (eventually assisted by George Weiss), and
Styne had always thought that there might be a Broadway musical in Austen’s
famous novel. Although Abe Burrows was far better known for his work in com-
edies, he both wrote the book and directed.53 The result was not one of Styne’s
great inspirations. It opened on 19 March 1959, two months before Gypsy, and
ran only 92 performances, even with a cast that included Polly Bergen, Hermione
Gingold, and Farley Granger.
Following Gypsy, Styne’s Broadway career continued into the 1990s and
included several hits. He wrote the score to Do Re Mi (1960) with lyrics by
Comden and Green, a show that ran 400 performances. Another effort with
that team was Subways Are for Sleeping (1961), which only played 205 times,
followed by Styne’s incidental music to the play Arturo Ui (1963) by Bertolt
Brecht (adapted by George Tabori), which only stayed on the boards for seven
performances. Styne worked with lyricist Bob Merrill on the score for Funny Girl
(1964), starring Barbra Streisand, his biggest Broadway hit in terms of number of
performances with 1,348. Fade Out – Fade In (1964), created for Carol Burnett,
included another score with lyrics by Comden and Green. Burnett’s health prob-
lems and other issues clipped off the run at just 271 renditions. Styne directed the
musical Something More! (1964) without success; it ran only 15 performances.
Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), the Broadway debut of Leslie Uggams, again found
Styne working with Comden and Green for a show that managed a run of
293 performances. After 1967, Styne became involved in fewer productions and
there was only one more successful show. Darling of the Day (1968, lyrics by E. Y.
Harburg) lasted only 31 repetitions and Look to the Lilies (1970, lyrics by Sammy
Cahn) ran only 25. Sugar (1972), based upon the film Some Like It Hot, included
lyrics by Bob Merrill and ran for a respectable 505 performances. A few years
later came Lorelei (1974), a reworking of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with some
new lyrics by Comden and Green, a concoction that lasted for 320 performances.
Styne produced the play Teibele and Her Demon (1979), which ran 25 times, and
his final two original scores for Broadway were barely heard: One Night Stand
(1980, lyrics by Herb Gardner) closed in previews and The Red Shoes (1993, lyr-
ics by (Marsha Norman and Bob Merrill [pseudonym Paul Stryker])) lasted only
five performances. Some of Styne’s songs also appeared in The American Dance
Machine (1978, 199 performances), Perfectly Frank (1989, 17 performances),
and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (1989, 633 performances).
Jule Styne was mostly a Broadway creature from 1947 until his death almost
five decades later. He profitably leveraged his experience as a songwriter in
Hollywood on the Great White Way and turned himself into one of the most
sought-after theatrical composers in the post-World War II period. He worked
 West Side Story and Gypsy 57
with several lyricists. It was with the team of Comden and Green that he wrote the
most scores, but he had success with Bob Merrill on a few shows. Styne’s major
hits in terms of initial success on Broadway and/or subsequent presence in the rep-
ertory included: High Button Shoes, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Peter Pan, Bells
Are Ringing, Gypsy, and Funny Girl, and there are several other shows that had
decent initial runs and included scores with some excellent songs. He wrote scores
for a number of female stars: Nanette Fabray, Carol Channing, Mary Martin, Judy
Holliday, Ethel Merman, Carol Burnett, and Barbra Streisand, among others.
Styne not only knew how to write music that worked well for their voices, but he
also coached them. As a composer Styne demonstrated a very wide range indeed,
making him ideal as a theatrical songwriter who could write in whatever style
might be needed. Although he also had a long career as a Broadway producer,
he had a few successes—the 1952 revival of Pal Joey being the most conspicu-
ous—but many of his productions were unsuccessful, whether he was involved in
writing the score or not. Such is the case with the Broadway business, of course,
and every producer has flops, but Styne’s gambling addiction made it difficult
for him to lose money on so many shows over the years. Still, one must admire
how committed he was to the theater and that he was always looking for that next
project, whether or not it involved his own musical talents.

Orchestrators
Sid Ramin (1919–2019)
Most famous as a Broadway orchestrator for his work on West Side Story and
Gypsy, Sid Ramin had a varied musical career that also included extensive arrang-
ing and composition for radio, television, films, and recordings. His training did
not include real expertise on any one instrument, but he did play some piano
and developed the practical musical knowledge that one needs to orchestrate
and the ability to work with hard deadlines staring him in the face. Ramin found
Broadway work taxing because of the speed with which the orchestrators have to
work, but, as will be seen, working in the television industry was also strenuous.
Eventually, Ramin became fonder of arranging and conducting music for record-
ings and composing and producing advertising jingles, the latter because it was
lucrative and he ran the show.
Ramin’s father, Ezra, came from Russia and worked as a window dresser
for Jordan Marsh, a Boston-based chain of department stores.54 His mother
Beatrice was a telephone operator from Boston’s West End. Sidney Ramin was
born 22 January 1919 into a family profoundly affected by the Depression in
the 1930s. They lost their home and moved in with Beatrice’s parents. Ramin
lived in the same neighborhood as Leonard Bernstein and they met when they
were about 12, forging a lifelong friendship. Their joint musical activities began
one day when they were with their friend Eddie Ryack. Bernstein tried to teach
Ryack the song “Goodnight Sweetheart” on the piano but Ramin proved more
adept and began his musical training at age 13, taking lessons in piano and music
58 West Side Story and Gypsy
theory from Bernstein. Ramin remembers playing four-hand piano arrangements
with Bernstein, who also helped him with his harder math problems.55 Several
letters survive between the two friends in summer 1933 that more demonstrate
their mutual passions for various compositions and artists and plans on getting
together than any kind of teacher/student relationship, but Bernstein wrote Ramin
on 12 March 1937 explicitly stating that he looks forward to being Ramin’s har-
mony teacher.56 He assures his student that what he teaches him will apply to
the jazz that Ramin wishes to understand, and also provides directions to the
Eliot House, Bernstein’s residence at Harvard. Ramin has stated that he went to
Harvard weekly for his lessons.57
Ramin stuttered badly as a young man and found music to be an outlet where
he did not need to speak. He credits Bernstein with inspiring his great love for
the art.58 After high school, Ramin spent a semester at Boston University study-
ing economics and he also started a small instrumental ensemble for which he
reworked stock arrangements. He played piano with various groups, faking his
way through gigs with his growing knowledge of chords and progressions, but he
knew that he did not possess the ability for a career as a pianist. Some part-time
training at the New England Conservatory of Music followed. Uncertain what to
do, Ramin enlisted in the US Army. His initial posting was at Fort Dawes on Deer
Island in Boston Harbor, where he asked the warrant officer in charge of the band
if he might arrange for them. This is how he spent much of the next year. After
his discharge, Ramin re-enlisted when he discovered that he was still eligible for
the wartime draft.59 He became a corporal and then a sergeant in the 84th Infantry
Division, assigned to the Headquarters Special Service as an arranger. Ramin
spent four years in the army as an orchestrator, recalling that for him “it was worth
everything!”60 The division landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy in late October
or early November and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge, but Ramin’s assign-
ment continued to be to help entertain the troops. With musician Phil Ford, Ramin
wrote the revue It’s All Yours, which he conducted at the Sarah Bernhardt Theater
in Paris and the Stadt Theater in Heidelberg. It boasted a cast of 100 servicemen
and large pit orchestra that included four trumpets and four trombones amidst
the other usual sections found in a big band. A number of touring celebrities saw
the show, including Mickey Rooney, Jack Benny, Ingrid Bergman, and Stubby
Kay. Ramin was grateful for all of the training that he had in the army, calling it
“almost the best five years of my life. It was terrific!”61
Upon his return to civilian life, Ramin sought employment as an arranger. He
moved to New York City, studying orchestration at Columbia University in a
class taught by Rudolph Thomas that also included future television music direc-
tor Mort Lindsay.62 Through a Boston connection, Ramin wrote a chart for jazz
trumpeter Roy Eldridge, and then he met guitarist Al Nevins, who led a trio, The
Three Suns. Ramin wrote an arrangement for them and Nevins hired him, an
opportunity that opened other doors when the group started recording with RCA
and Ramin arranged charts for the back-up orchestra. This began Ramin’s long
association with the recording giant, a pillar of his career from the late 1940s that
he maintained while expanding into television, Broadway, and films. Ramin met
 West Side Story and Gypsy 59
the singer Gloria Bright and married her in 1949; their only child, son Ron, was
born in 1953. Ron Ramin is a composer who has worked extensively in television
and films in addition to concert music.63
In 1948, Sid Ramin began to work for radio, quickly moving into early tel-
evision. He knew the conductor Allen Roth, music director for Texaco Star
Theatre, who hired Ramin and Robert “Red” Ginzler as arrangers. The popular
show starred Milton Berle and soon bore its star’s name. It aired Tuesday nights;
rehearsals began on Sunday mornings. Ramin and Ginzler were on the set to learn
what music would be needed. The entirety of the score had to be finished by
Monday morning with the arrangers working in one office and copyists in another
preparing parts. Ginzler was left-handed and Ramin was right-handed, allowing
them to work simultaneously on the same page of score when necessary. Ramin
was grateful to his partner: “Red Ginzler taught me so much. I cannot begin to tell
you.”64 Berle was a difficult man and Ramin quit a few times, but each time the
comedian convinced him to return. Ramin reports that sometimes in a rehearsal
Berle would want a fanfare and sing something that Ramin more or less wrote
down. When he heard the idea in its arrangement, Berle thought he had written
it.65 When the show moved to California in 1955, Ramin flew out each week for
the same production schedule and then returned to New York City. Ramin and
Ginzler worked on the show until June 1956, but on imdb​.c​om one reads incor-
rectly that Ramin only worked on eight episodes between 1953 and 1956 and
Ginzler only worked on two episodes in 1956.66
Ramin’s work on Broadway was only consistent between 1957 and 1963,
and he was never full-time in his theatrical efforts. Ramin’s entry into Broadway
works came through Ginzler, Don Walker’s principal assistant. As shown in
Chapter 2, Walker chronically took on more work than he was able to do, and in
early 1953 his firm simultaneously was covering the needs for three shows, lead-
ing to Ginzler pulling Ramin in for the purpose of orchestrating “A Little More
Heart” from Jule Styne’s score to Hazel Flagg.67 Then Ramin agreed to go to New
Haven for the out-of-town try-out of Wonderful Town, with music by Bernstein,
who was shocked to see Ramin there working for him. Ramin had already written
the chart for “Swing” (see Chapter 2 for a description); while in New Haven he
tended to necessary changes in the score. In places on ibdb​.com​, Ramin is credited
in Wonderful Town as “Assistant to Don Walker,” his first Broadway credit.68
(Ginzler receives the same billing as Ramin for his work on Wonderful Town.69)
Following Wonderful Town, Ramin did little or no work for Broadway until West
Side Story. In 1956, he signed a contract with RCA to make recordings for which
he wrote the arrangements and conducted, his primary work outside of Broadway
into the early 1960s. One of his successful RCA projects was a recording with
singer Abbe Lane entitled The Lady in Red (1958). Ramin’s collaboration with
Bernstein and Irwin Kostal on the orchestrations for West Side Story is the topic
of Chapter 4; here we simply note that Bernstein invited Ramin to work with
him, but Ramin did not feel equal to the full task for reasons of time and because
he knew that Bernstein’s score would include numerous references to classical
music, which Kostal understood well. Ramin convinced Bernstein that Kostal
60 West Side Story and Gypsy
should join them. Bernstein retained credit as orchestrator with Ramin and Kostal
designated “co-orchestrators.”70
Ramin’s next Broadway project was for RCA, contracted to do an original cast
recording for Say, Darling with music by Jule Styne. As reported above in the
segment on Styne, the show concerned the rehearsal period for a Broadway musi-
cal and the pit accompaniment was two pianists. Ramin orchestrated the show
for the album, working with Ginzler, although Ramin received complete credit.71
They gave the score a full treatment with rich use of brass and woodwinds. When
Styne heard the overture in the studio, Ramin reports that he feigned fainting
from the delightful surprise of the sound.72 Ramin believes that Styne offered the
Gypsy orchestrations to him and Ginzler because of that album. The process of
orchestration for Gypsy will be covered in detail in Chapter 5. Suskin notes that
Gypsy featured one of the most significant Broadway orchestrations of the time,
sounding, for example, completely different than what Robert Russell Bennett
had prepared for Bells Are Ringing as recently as 1956.73 Part of the fresh sound
came from Ramin’s interest in writing for brass instruments.
Ramin’s Broadway career continued with contributions to five shows through
1963, regularly involving either Ginzler or Kostal. The short-lived The Girls
Against the Boys (1959), with music by Richard Lewine, combined Ramin and
Ginzler, and then both made contributions along with other arrangers to producer
David Merrick’s revue Vintage ’60 (1960). Ramin again collaborated with Ginzler
on Wildcat (1960), a show starring Lucille Ball with score by Cy Coleman, and
The Conquering Hero (1961), with music by Moose Charlap. Wildcat ran for a
disappointing 171 performances, and The Conquering Hero did not live up to
its title, running only 8 renditions. Ramin and Ginzler were too busy and had to
pull out of Styne’s show Do Re Mi (1960).74 Kwamina (1961), for which Ramin
and Kostal provided orchestrations for music and lyrics of Richard Adler, ran a
scant 32 performances. Working in 1962 with full credit on orchestrations for I
Can Get It for You Wholesale (with some contributions by Arthur Beck75) for the
music of Harold Rome, Ramin became friends with Barbra Streisand, who made
her Broadway debut in this show that ran 300 performances. Stephen Sondheim
had worked with Ramin and Kostal when he wrote lyrics for West Side Story,
and both also came aboard to orchestrate his score for A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum (1962), a major hit. The last Broadway show on which
Ginzler worked before his death from a heart attack at the end of 1962 was the
flop Nowhere to Go but Up. He was primary orchestrator with additional work
by Ramin and Walker.76 Ramin’s final show on Broadway for the decade was the
unsuccessful Sophie (1963), a consideration of events in singer Sophie Tucker’s
early career with music and lyrics by Steve Allen. Ramin orchestrated and
arranged the score with Beck and others after signing up to do it on his own, but
he was too busy and had been “spoiled” with how much money he could make
writing commercial jingles, which he had recently started composing.77
Ramin also continued to record albums with RCA, with Kostal orchestrated the
film version of West Side Story (1961) and Bernstein’s concert suite Symphonic
Dances from West Side Story, and wrote theme songs for the television shows
 West Side Story and Gypsy 61
Candid Camera (for which he also served as music director) and The Patty Duke
Show. Ramin was prolific in writing advertising jingles, producing such famous
tunes as an Herb Alpert-like song for Diet Pepsi that became the popular “Music
to Watch Girls By”; “Come Alive, You’re in the Pepsi Generation,” heard on a
number of commercials; and a song for Revlon’s Charlie perfume sung in com-
mercials by such artists as Bobby Short and Mel Tormé.78 Ramin’s wife Gloria
sang a number of the jingles for various commercials.
Orchestrating for theater beckoned less often to Ramin for the remainder of
his career, but his old friend Bernstein continued to demand his services and there
also were other projects. The composer’s Mass (1971), written for the opening
of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, included Ramin’s col-
laboration as consultant in writing for guitars and synthesizer and he also orches-
trated a chamber version of the piece. Bernstein asked Ramin to orchestrate his
score for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976), for which Ramin invited Hershy
Kay to collaborate. It was an enormous project, but lyricist/book writer Alan Jay
Lerner never resolved major flaws in the book and the show flopped. During the
Washington try-out, Bernstein went to New York for a week to conduct and left
Ramin in charge of the music, working on changes with the erratic Lerner. Ramin
recalls: “That made a man of me. A wreck, but a man.”79 Ramin again worked
with Kostal under Bernstein’s supervision for the orchestrations to his opera A
Quiet Place (1983–84). Ramin’s final Broadway work included the unsuccessful
Smile (1986), with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Howard Ashman,
which Ramin orchestrated with three other arrangers; the retrospective Jerome
Robbins’ Broadway (1989) with numbers from several of the director/choreogra-
pher’s shows, which Ramin scored with William D. Brohn; Crazy for You (1996)
with music by George Gershwin, mostly orchestrated by Brohn and with addi-
tional orchestrations by Ramin, including the chart for “Slap That Bass”;80 and
the short-lived The Red Shoes with music by Jule Styne, and lyrics by Bob Merrill
and Marsha Norman, on which Ramin also worked with Brohn.

Seymour Robert “Red” Ginzler (1910–62)

Since Broadway musicals are the result of collaboration by many creative peo-
ple, there are bound to be figures almost unknown even to those who dote on
the genre. Orchestrators have usually been among the unsung heroes of musical
theater, and the way that discipline has been practiced leaves some practitioners
even more obscure. As noted elsewhere in this study, those most responsible for
orchestrating shows have by habit agreed to do too much work, relying on the
profession’s close ties to find helpers willing to work for money but little or no
credit. Such was the case of “Red” Ginzler, a man that Steven Suskin describes
as one of Broadway’s most influential orchestrators of the 1950s when he mostly
served as an assistant to the ubiquitous Don Walker. At the end of the decade and
in the early 1960s Ginzler started to become more prominent—partly because of
the ground-breaking work that he did with Sid Ramin on Gypsy in 1959—but he
died in late 1962. His ability to bring jazz effects into his Broadway orchestrations
62 West Side Story and Gypsy
was a major contribution to the genre; therefore, understanding his experience in
jazz bands is a significant part of Ginzler’s biography.
Born on 20 July 1910 in Leechburg, PA, 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh,
Ginzler was the youngest of four boys.81 His given name was Seymour Robert
Ginzler; his hair color gave him his nickname. When his parents separated in
the 1920s, Ginzler went with his mother to the Detroit area, where he started the
trombone in high school and found his way to a career. Early jazz was filled with
young musicians, and Ginzler started to travel with the Jean Goldkette band in
1926. Suskin states that the trombonist’s roommate on tour was the famed trum-
pet player Bix Beiderbecke,82 but Ginzler’s name does not appear in major studies
of Beiderbecke.83 Goldkette’s group was associated with the Graystone Ballroom
in Detroit and, besides Beiderbecke, included such figures as Frankie Trumbauer,
Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and Joe Venuti.84 Trumpeter Rex Stewart was in
Fletcher Henderson’s group, which was outplayed by the white ensemble from
Detroit in a cutting session at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City in October
1926.85 Stewart calls Goldkette’s group “the first and greatest white swing band.”
He goes on: “Their arrangements were too imaginative and their rhythm too
strong, what with Steve Brown slapping hell out of that bass fiddle and Frankie
Trumbauer’s inspiring leadership as he stood in front wailing on his C-melody
saxophone.”86 Stewart lists the trombone players in Goldkette’s group with no
mention of Ginzler. However, Goldkette owned and gigged several ballrooms in
various cities and moved players around; Ginzler was probably elsewhere when
Henderson’s group competed with Goldkette’s band in New York. According to
Walter Bruyninckx, “Red Ginsler” [sic] made one recording with Jean Goldkette
and His Orchestra in New York City on 15 September 1927, when they set down
the songs “Blue River” and “Clementine (from New Orleans).”87 Biederbecke
was not involved but Hoagie Carmichael played piano that day; the other trom-
bonist was Lorin Schulz. Goldkette made a number of recordings in New York
City around that time, but that is the only one where Ginzler’s name appears. In
his brief biographical note on Ginzler from his study of Paul Whiteman’s career,
Don Rayno states that Ginzler played in “one of Jean Goldkette’s Detroit-based
bands in the mid-1920s,”88 suggesting that he perhaps was not often with the top
group.
Suskin states that Beiderbecke and Ginzler moved onto playing for Paul
Whiteman’s ensemble when Goldkette dissolved his band in 1928.89 This is cer-
tainly the case for the famous trumpeter, but Ginzler probably did not play with
Whiteman in the 1920s. According to Rayno, he played with Whiteman for about
eight months from January to August 1941 (described below), but Rayno makes
no mention of an earlier association between Whiteman and Ginzler.90 Suskin
notes that Ginzler played on tour at the Casa Loma in Toronto in 1928. He soon
thereafter returned to New York City, where he was joined by Ida Schulman,
a woman who had worked at the Casa Loma. They married in early 1929 and
returned to Toronto, where both Suskin and Rayno say that Ginzler lived through
the 1930s. As stated in Chapter 2, early in the decade he played for a period in
the orchestra at the Royal York Hotel, directed for a short time by Don Walker,
 West Side Story and Gypsy 63
who was to become one of Ginzler’s most important connections in New York.
Ginzler was a member of the Toronto Symphony from 1936 to 1940,91 played at
the Canadian Broadcasting Company with Percy Faith, and wrote arrangements
for Luigi Romanelli’s ensemble that played at the King Edward Hotel. While in
Toronto, Ginzler met Robert Farnon, a trumpeter who became a lifelong friend
and enjoyed a distinguished career as a composer/arranger. Once World War II
began, it became necessary for anyone working for Canadian radio stations to be
citizens of the country. Ginzler returned to New York in December 1940 with his
family and sought employment there.92
Suskin reports that little is known about Ginzler’s activities between 1940 and
1947.93 Both Suskin and Rayno state that the trombonist played some engage-
ments with Benny Goodman, but this followed his abovementioned stint on tour
with Paul Whiteman. Legal wrangling caused Whiteman to leave the musical pro-
fession during the second half of 1940 but by December he was holding auditions
for a new orchestra.94 He hired Ginzler and Murray McEachern as trombonists.
As of 1 January 1941, ASCAP banned the playing on the radio of all songs that
it licensed, meaning that Whiteman’s band would tour for the time being. They
rehearsed during the first half of January and went to Florida, where they worked
at various venues until 18 March. Except for a few weeks in early April, the
ensemble then played steadily in short engagements around the south, making
its way into West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania by early May, and landing in
New York City for four days of rest on 11–14 May. From 17 May to early July,
the band played at Chez Paree in Chicago, frequently broadcasting on the NBC
Red Network. Work followed in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
From 8 to 14 August they played at the Loew’s State Theatre in New York City,
followed by a two-week vacation when several members left the band, including
Ginzler. According to Bruyninckx and Tom Lord, Whiteman made no recordings
during the time that Ginzler played with his group.95
Suskin notes that Ginzler played with Broadway orchestrator Don Walker
while living in Toronto. Then in New York, he performed in the pit for the
Rodgers and Hart show By Jupiter, perhaps on Walker’s recommendation, who
did the orchestrations. The musical opened on 12 June 1942. Next Walker orches-
trated Beat the Band (opened 14 October), for which Ginzler played trombone and
then conducted the show before it closed on 12 December, after which he returned
to the orchestra of By Jupiter, starting to conduct that show in April 1943 before
it closed on 12 June. Suskin reports that Ginzler began to work as a copyist for
Walker, such as on the show Early to Bed, which opened in June 1943.96 The
two men obviously formed a lasting partnership that surely included more copy-
ing and Ginzler ghost-writing arrangements. According to Suskin, Ginzler’s
daughters remember him going to Philadelphia in late 1947 to work on the show
Look Ma, I’m Dancin’. The first Broadway arrangements with Ginzler’s name
as orchestrator were minor pieces in Miss Liberty (1949), with score by Irving
Berlin.97 Ginzler continued to play in pit orchestras into the 1950s.98
Don Walker launched his Chelsea Music Service in 1951 to pull in as much
Broadway work as possible;99 Ginzler played an important role in this operation.
64 West Side Story and Gypsy
Suskin has found no contracts to document the association, but calls Ginzler a
“general assistant” for Walker who worked on at least two dozen shows that
Walker orchestrated in the 1950s.100 Ginzler received credit as an “assistant” or
for “additional orchestrations” on the following shows: a revival of Of Thee I Sing
(1952), Wonderful Town (1953), Ankles Aweigh (1955), Happy Hunting (1956),
The Music Man (1957), and First Impressions (1959).101 Ginzler also appears
first in a list of eight orchestrators for Oh Captain! (1958); Walker did not work
on the show. Among the numbers that Suskin credits to Ginzler in the 1950s
are “Conga,” “Ballet at the Village Vortex,” “It’s Love,” “Christopher Street,”
and “One Hundred Easy Ways” in Wonderful Town; “Steam Heat,” “I’ll Never
Be Jealous Again,” and “Seven-and-a-Half Cents” in The Pajama Game; and
“Whatever Lola Wants,” “Heart,” and “Two Lost Souls” from Damn Yankees.102
Ginzler’s extensive experience with jazz and other styles of American popular
music gave him the musical understanding to make evocative orchestrations
for such numbers as “Conga,” “One Hundred Easy Ways,” “Steam Heat,” and
“Whatever Lola Wants.”
Ginzler arranged charts for other clients, including society bandleader Ruby
Newman in Boston in the years after World War II. Suskin reports that Sid Ramin
met Ginzler at about this point and sought advice.103 Within two years, Ramin was
in New York City and arranging for radio. He asked Ginzler to join him in work-
ing for The Texaco Star Theater, which soon went on television as The Milton
Berle Show. Details on their joint work for Berle’s show appear above in the sec-
tion on Ramin. Despite the show’s demanding schedule and their steady work on
it through the middle of 1956, Ginzler usually found time to work on Broadway,
occasionally bringing Ramin into that world. Their joint work on the original cast
album for Say, Darling (1958), Gypsy (1959), and other shows also appears in the
section on Ramin.
Given Walker’s long shadow, Ginzler’s work on Broadway from at least
1949 received little attention until the late 1950s. On the majority of shows where
he contributed, Ginzler’s name did not appear in the program. When he worked
on Gypsy with Ramin, his friend insisted on being in charge and in the credit lines
his name appeared larger than that of Ginzler. One might wonder how Ginzler felt
about consistently playing second banana. Suskin interviewed Ginzler’s daughter
Sheila Ginzler Kieran, who described her father as a shy man who might have
preferred remaining in the background. However, Broadway music directors and
arrangers Elliot Lawrence and John Morris, who both worked with Ginzler, told
Suskin that the orchestrator disliked working so long for Walker for little credit
and the way that Ramin treated him on Gypsy.104 Ramin later felt badly enough
about it that he gave Ginzler equal credit for the 1974 revival.
What might have become a successful period as a leading Broadway orches-
trator was cut short by Ginzler’s death on 29 December 1962. After orchestrat-
ing the unsuccessful The Girls Against the Boys (1959) with Ramin, the latter
recommended Ginzler to composer Charles Strouse for orchestrating Bye Bye
Birdie.105 It was an unusual show for 1960 with a few songs that carry the feel-
ing of early rock-and-roll. Ginzler did not do all of the show’s charts but was
 West Side Story and Gypsy 65
the main orchestrator. The score includes imaginative moments, such as Suskin’s
description of where Ginzler uses four flutes.106 One can also appreciate delight-
ful interjections by woodwinds and high brass in “Kids,” which imitate vaude-
ville novelty orchestrations.107 Ginzler received credit for his work on the show
in a review in American Record Guide: “The songs are just about adequate, if
not particularly inspired. The orchestrations by Robert Ginzler do a lot for them,
and one, Baby Talk to Me, stirs up quite a bit of excitement.”108 Jonathan Tunick
(b. 1938), a Juilliard student, became consumed by Ginzler’s delightful orches-
trations for Birdie and found his life’s passion. Ramin has reported that Tunick
started to hang around the office so that he could learn from Ginzler.109 By the
early 1970s, Tunick was famous for his ingenious orchestrations of scores by
Stephen Sondheim.
Ginzler’s next show was Vintage ’60, a short-lived review with orchestrations
by a number of people. He provided additional orchestrations for Irma La Douce
(1960), primarily executed by André Popp, and then worked on Wildcat (1960)
and The Conquering Hero (1961) with Ramin. Ginzler labored alone as cred-
ited orchestrator on Donnybrook! (1961) and as the main figure on the hit How
to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), in which Suskin praises
Ginzler’s use of sandpaper blocks, cow bells, and typewriter in “A Secretary Is
Not a Toy.”110 His efforts impressed the Saturday Review critic writing about the
original cast recording:

As for the clever orchestrations of Robert Ginzler, they are often as clever in
their vocalstrations for performers who can’t really sing. You’d hardly know
it, however, from the way in which they are supported, carried and, when
need be, discreetly drowned out.111

Next Ginzler received sole credit for orchestrations on A Family Affair (1962),
an unsuccessful show that Harold Prince took over out of town as director and
managed to get to New York. Ginzler’s misfortune in working on shows with
short runs continued with his last three projects, all in 1962: All American, Bravo
Giovanni, and Nowhere to Go but Up. The final show played nine performances
in November, after which Ginzler went to the United Kingdom for an unknown
project and visited his friend Robert Farnon, living in the Channel Islands. He
returned to the United States anticipating work on Hot Spot with Tunick, but
Ginzler died of a heart attack on 29 December 1962.112 Tunick inherited some of
Ginzler’s tools and supplies, including special staff paper, which he used while
working on Sondheim’s Company and Follies in the early 1970s.113

Irwin Kostal (1911–94)

Most famous on Broadway for his work on West Side Story, Irwin Kostal was an
orchestrator, arranger, and conductor who did not find consistent work until he
was well into his 30s. He was a natural musician with wide knowledge of both
popular and classical music who finally found great success on television, on
66 West Side Story and Gypsy
Broadway, and in Hollywood. Kostal was born in 1911 in Chicago into a tough
neighborhood of immigrant Czechs. His father sold firewood and was in frequent
legal troubles for getting into bar fights that sometimes also involved his own
father. As a boy, Kostal was studious and enjoyed reading. He fell in love with
the player piano at age 2 1/2, but his father did not acquire an instrument for the
family until the son was 11. This was a player piano without a mechanism; Kostal
started to learn to play it and was almost entirely self-taught. Suskin reports that
the young man began to play in small groups and soon started to arrange pieces,
learning from his mistakes. Kostal played gigs with a dance orchestra at 12 and
also discovered Richard Wagner’s music on the radio, igniting his passion for
classical music.114 His talent for understanding sophisticated music at a tender age
can be seen in his arranging the Prelude to Tristan and Isolde for two pianos soon
thereafter. Early experience in arranging music occurred when he played piano
for a school production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for which he prepared Stephen
Foster’s “Old Folks at Home” in various versions for particular moments in the
play. By the age of 14 he was teaching ragtime and earning $22.50 per week.115
A few years later, Kostal’s father wanted his son to accept a job driving a
beer truck for Al Capone. Irwin refused and his father beat him. Graduating from
high school in 1929, Kostal spent five years finding gigs, including work for the
mob, and pursuing independent study of classical scores at the Chicago Public
Library. In 1934, Suskin reports that Kostal began to tour with the Bobby Meeker
Orchestra, a regional big band.116 On at least some occasions, the group played in
St. Louis at the Hotel Jefferson.117 Kostal’s duties included two arrangements each
week. He became so proficient that he could work in a hotel room with no score,
copying an arrangement that he formed in his head straight to parts. Growing
tired of the road, he returned home in 1938 and redoubled his study of classical
scores.118 In his biography on Leonard Bernstein, Humphrey Burton states that
Kostal studied with Stefan Wolpe, but he offers no source for the assertion.119
These were lean years for Kostal, but in 1943 he started to make a decent living.
He played piano for the band at the Latin Quarter, a nightclub, also at times lead-
ing the group. The NBC orchestra in Chicago hired him as their orchestrator the
following year, giving Kostal the chance to work with 40 musicians while main-
taining his gig at the Latin Quarter 6 nights per week. The Chicago Federation
of Musicians stepped in and told Kostal he was doing too much work and would
have to quit one of the jobs. His solution was to leave the city and move to New
York, where he again had trouble finding gigs. He met Sid Ramin and “Red”
Ginzler, who befriended him.120 Kostal found nine months of work at the NBC
radio station in New York, met Don Walker, and started to do uncredited arrang-
ing for television shows and Broadway musicals.121 Kostal’s first demonstrable
work for Broadway was for Dance Me a Song, a show from the early 1950s that
starred Bob Fosse and Joan McCracken. The orchestrator of record was Robert
Russell Bennett, but Suskin reports that he left the show and Don Walker took
over.122 Kostal helped and enjoyed working with charts that included Bennett’s
idiomatic writing for strings and Walker’s expert scoring for brass and wood-
winds. Walker left much of the work for Kostal, who reported in his unpublished
 West Side Story and Gypsy 67
autobiography that his biggest challenge was providing exciting music for all of
the dancing while allowing the lyrics to be understandable. He kept all voices on
the melody of a song and retained many of the string and reed parts that Bennett
and Walker had written, composing “jazzy brass fills” when breaks in the sing-
ing allowed.123 As was often the case for orchestrators early in their Broadway
careers, Kostal had demonstrated his skill but without published credit.
Just as he was getting started on Broadway, Kostal’s career as an orchestrator
for television took off. Producer Max Liebman started the famous Your Show of
Shows (1950–54) starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, but Walker was unim-
pressed with the possibility and left the project for Kostal. It turned into a lucrative
position that lasted 4 busy years, encompassing 141 shows. Kostal demonstrated
the striking speed with which he could work. During most weeks, he produced
700 pages of original orchestral score, meaning that he earned $7,000 per week.124
In such a creative cauldron, Kostal seems to have been the ideal figure to be work-
ing with writers and actors concerning what kind of music they needed for each
moment. After Your Show of Shows left the air, Kostal continued to orchestrate
for Liebman in his Max Liebman Presents, specials that ran between 1954 and
1957 presenting shortened versions of older musicals and operettas. Kostal stud-
ied orchestrations for these works and prepared his own versions.125
On top of these tasks, Kostal continued to do ghost work for Walker. For exam-
ple, as one of several assistants that Walker used on Wonderful Town in 1953,
Kostal orchestrated the satirical song “Pass the Football.”126 (See the description
of this arrangement in Chapter 2.) This began for Kostal a useful association
with producers Hal Prince and Robert Griffith. Kostal worked on six of their first
seven shows, missing out only on New Girl in Town (1957). For The Pajama
Game, Kostal’s contribution to a score credited to Don Walker was the famous
“Hernando’s Hideaway,”127 a tango by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Kostal
opened his arrangement with solo guitar and typical string, wind, and percus-
sion gestures (such as castanets), but in segments where he underscored dialogue
there is surprising and humorous use of low woodwinds and brass as people try
to enter the secretive club.128 For the ballad “Hey There,” Kostal complemented
the lovely melody with off-beats in high strings and woodwinds and counter-
melodies in strings, alto saxophone, and flute.129 For Damn Yankees (1955), also
with score by Adler and Ross, Kostal supplied the “Baseball Ballet” (part of
the number “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO”), “A Man Doesn’t Know,” and
one of three extant versions of “Those Were the Good Old Days.”130 The dance
sequence on the show’s original cast recording cut of “Shoeless Joe” continues
the country fiddling trope heard earlier in the song with a few interruptions that
would have been worked out by choreographer Bob Fosse and dance arranger
Roger Adams. Kostal’s arrangement of Adams’s music projects a pseudo-coun-
try sound.131 Kostal provided the charts “A Man Doesn’t Know” and its reprise,
except Ginzler wrote the last 15 measures of the reprise.132 The song is a ballad in
an easy four with distinctive gestures on beats two to four, which Kostal places
in the violins, high winds, and glockenspiel, matching the tentative nature of the
text and melody; for the last 40 seconds he introduces a full string sound as the
68 West Side Story and Gypsy
duet proceeds to a strong finish with swelling trumpets.133 The same year, Kostal
helped Don Walker on Cole Porter’s Silk Stockings. Kostal orchestrated “Siberia”
(except for eight measures that Ginzler later changed),134 an off-beat soft-shoe
with some of Porter’s wonderfully comic lyrics and unexpected rhymes. Kostal’s
chart captured the song’s weird charm with extensive use of solo bassoon around
the voices and a dance break with muted trumpets (Ginzler’s contribution with
woodwind fill-ins in the first eight measures), a powerful moment for solo horn
and probably a cello countermelody, and sleigh bells for effect.135 The dance break
continues to sound fresh today. In early 1957, Kostal provided additional orches-
trations for Shinbone Alley, a short-lived show based on the “archie and mehita-
bel” stories of Don Marquis. The main orchestrator was the show’s composer,
George Kleinsinger.
Soon thereafter, Kostal worked on West Side Story with Bernstein and Ramin,
a creative process covered in Chapter 4. For Kostal’s part, working with Bernstein
was clearly worthwhile, even if his memory of the project sounds impossible
with Bernstein busy in multiple jobs for the show: “From the middle of May, Sid
and I spent at least twelve hours a day working with Lenny on every song and
dance routine in West Side Story.”136 (Also, as will be explained in Chapter 4,
they did not start working on the show’s orchestration until late June.) After the
Broadway community heard the electrifying orchestrations for West Side Story,
Kostal presumably could have spent the remainder of his career working in the
theater, but Broadway was just one possibility along with his extensive work
in the recording industry and Hollywood. We first survey his musical theater
projects. With Don Walker as credited orchestrator for The Music Man, Kostal
received credit for “additional orchestrations” along with Sidney Fine, Ginzler,
and Walter Eiger; Lawrence Rosenthal did the dance arrangements. Suskin credits
Kostal with “Lida Rose”/”Will I Ever Tell You,” “The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl,”
and “Shipoopi,” also including the dance, and Kostal also contributed to “Ice
Cream Sociable” and “Marian the Librarian.”137 This is a significant amount of
work on Meredith Willson’s well-known score. “Lida Rose” is an a cappella bar-
bershop number, but “Will I Ever Tell You” concerns a young woman looking for
love that invites the traditional use of string chords and fill-ins from the violins,
which Kostal provided.138 “The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl” is a march with a cyni-
cal text, mostly scored with light accompaniment in strings and woodwinds and
some down-and-dirty brass fill-ins at risqué moments, showing Kostal’s concern
with letting the text be understood and providing instrumental confirmations of
Harold Hill’s less-than-honorable intentions.139 “Shipoopi” is a ragtime-inflected
number that Kostal gave an active orchestration with ragtime tropes in strings and
high woodwinds, more restrained when accompanying the workmanlike singing
of Iggie Wolfington, but pulling out all of the stops in the dances. The song even
includes suggestions of country fiddling as Kostal helps portray small-town life
in rural America.140
Kostal’s last eight Broadway shows stretched out for nearly a quarter of a
century and included all of the shows for which he received individual credit:
Fiorello! (1959, score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick), Tenderloin (1960,
 West Side Story and Gypsy 69
Bock and Harnick), Sail Away (1961, Noël Coward), Gigi (1973, Alan Jay Lerner
and Frederick Loewe), Rex (1976, Richard Rodgers and Sheldon Harnick),
Copperfield (1981, music and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn), and Seven
Brides for Seven Brothers (1982, Gene de Paul and Johnny Mercer with addi-
tional songs by Kasha and Hirschhorn). Kostal worked with Ramin on orches-
trations to Kwamina (1961, music and lyrics by Richard Adler) and A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962, music and lyrics by Stephen
Sondheim). Except for Fiorello! and Forum, none of these shows were success-
ful. He also did some ghostwriting for shows in the years after West Side Story.
He had continued his work with the producers Harold Prince and Robert Griffith
in Fiorello!, Tenderloin, and then Forum with Prince after Griffith’s death in
1961. He had signed on to do Fiddler on the Roof for Prince but was offered the
opportunity to orchestrate and conduct Mary Poppins for Disney. The gambit
that Kostal’s agent used to get his client out of Fiddler caused Prince to swear off
working with the orchestrator again and forced the angry Kostal to find another
agent.141
Kostal’s career away from Broadway continued apace for the remainder of
his career. Like Ramin, he moved into work on recordings, including two albums
for Julie Andrews for which he arranged the music. Kostal stopped working on
television projects with Max Liebman in 1958, and then from 1959 to 1963 he
arranged for The Garry Moore Show, which introduced Carol Burnett to the
entertainment world. Kostal’s work on Moore’s show brought him into further
contact with high-profile guests, such as Julie Andrews and Barbra Streisand.
Two famous television specials involving some of the same talent on which he
worked were Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962) and An Evening with Carol
Burnett (1963). With his role as music supervisor/conductor on Mary Poppins,
Kostal’s career took off in Hollywood. He performed similar roles for The Sound
of Music (1965). Continuing work on films included Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
(1968), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Pete’s Dragon (1977), and other pro-
jects. In 1983–84, he returned to his association with Bernstein and Ramin when
he helped orchestrate the opera A Quiet Place. Kostal died on 23 November
1994 in Studio City, CA.

Conclusion
The vast majority of projects described in this chapter involve commercial music,
where the tradition is for duties required to complete a musical score to be divided
among various specialties: composition, orchestration, vocal arranging, dance
arranging, copying parts, and conducting/musical direction. Composers often
only conceive the music and perhaps consult in the other areas, sometimes picking
up one or more other duties, but continuing needs for new musical numbers and
revisions of existing songs and dances can make it all but impossible for a com-
poser to contribute elsewhere. Figures like Ramin, Ginzler, and Kostal, however,
depending on the project, moved between duties. Ramin and Ginzler both wrote
and arranged music for The Milton Berle Show, and by the 1960s Ramin made
70 West Side Story and Gypsy
much of his income writing advertising jingles, often also arranging the music and
conducting the recording session. Kostal also cut his compositional teeth work-
ing on television, such as on Your Show of Shows, where he also arranged a great
deal of music for the program. His work in Hollywood in the 1960s–70s included
musical supervision and conducting on several high-profile projects, further dem-
onstrating his versatility. Both Ramin and Kostal remained willing to return to
Bernstein’s side to assist with orchestration duties, Ramin even, after the com-
poser’s death, preparing an orchestration of the piano part of Bernstein’s Sonata
for Clarinet and Piano as late as 1994 at the request of famed clarinetist Richard
Stoltzman.142 Ginzler’s earlier death—and perhaps a natural reticence to assert
himself into more prominent work—limited his chances of moving much beyond
the act of orchestration but, as demonstrated above, he was an acknowledged
master of the craft and also worked more as a performing musician than either
Ramin or Kostal. There are many possibilities for further study of these men’s
musical activities beyond what appears in this book, and the work of many others
like them, including women who worked as dance arrangers and in other capaci-
ties on Broadway scores, such as Geneviève Pitot (1901–80) and Trude Rittmann
(1908–2005).143
The essential differences between the musical and theatrical activities of
Bernstein and Styne have been explained in detail. While Bernstein’s career took
him into corners of the musical world that Styne barely explored, Styne had an
extensive parallel career as a theatrical producer, a field in which Bernstein never
even dabbled. The important point to compare between these two figures as we
reach the end of this biographical chapter is to note that Styne’s career was based
on Broadway from the 1940s until the 1980s, moving from one show to the next
as both composer and producer, contributing in major ways to the profession and
advancing the careers of many who worked with him. He must be considered one
of the more important Broadway figures in the postwar period and not unlike such
men as Oscar Hammerstein II and Hal Prince in terms of the breadth and depth of
his contribution to the field. By comparison, Bernstein did most of his Broadway
work in 1944, 1950–57, and in 1975–76, with a few attempts at other times in
projects that failed to generate a show. It resulted in five strong scores, but he
was at best a part-time Broadway composer who spent far more time conducting
and writing concert music. Indeed, West Side Story and Gypsy emanated from
the minds of composers with strongly contrasting levels of commitment to the
Broadway musical theater.

Notes
1 Steven Suskin, The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators &
Orchestrations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). Suskin provides biogra-
phies of Ramin (pp. 72–78), Kostal (pp. 55–67), and Ginzler (pp. 41–47). In addition,
Ramin made an autobiographical video of his life and work, Sid Ramin: A Life in
Music, Richard Kaplan serving as producer, director, and editor (Family Tribute Film,
2010).
2 Ramin states this on Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
 West Side Story and Gypsy  71
3 For biographies on Bernstein, see: Humphrey Burton, Leonard Bernstein (New York:
Doubleday, 1994), the largest study commissioned by his estate; Meryle Secrest,
Leonard Bernstein: A Life (New York: Vintage Books, 1994), a useful, comple-
mentary volume; Allen Shawm, Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician, Jewish
Lives (New York: Yale University Press, 2014), a more compact work well balanced
between the man’s life and music; and Paul R. Laird, Leonard Bernstein, Critical
Lives (London: Reaktion Books, 2018), a short biography with concise coverage of
the various stages of his career and an emphasis on his compositions.
4 For an excellent study of Fancy Free and On the Town, see: Carol J. Oja, Bernstein
Meets Broadway: Collaborative Art in a Time of War (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2014). For a recent study that covers Fancy Free in detail, see: Sophie Redfern,
Bernstein and Robbins: The Early Ballets, Eastman Studies in Music (Rochester:
University of Rochester Press, 2021).
5 For a study of the music of Fancy Free, see: Paul R. Laird and Hsun Lin,
Leonard Bernstein: A Research and Information Guide, 2nd ed., Routledge Music
Bibliographies (New York: Routledge, 2015), 35–39.
6 Oja, 83–114, is an excellent chapter on the creation of On the Town.
7 Dominic McHugh, “‘I’ll Never Know Exactly Who Did What’: Broadway Composers
as Musical Collaborators,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 68, no. 3
(Fall 2015): 610–11.
8 McHugh, 617–19.
9 McHugh, 624.
10 McHugh, 625–30.
11 McHugh, 631–36.
12 McHugh, 637–44.
13 McHugh, 614, 627–28, 646.
14 McHugh, 647.
15 For a fine discussion of Auden’s poem and Bernstein’s symphony, see: Shawm,
90–101.
16 Burton, 223. For a study of Trouble in Tahiti, see: Helen Smith, There’s a Place for
Us: The Musical Theatre Works of Leonard Bernstein (Farnham, Surrey, England:
Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011), 43–71.
17 For a study of Wonderful Town, see: Smith, 73–98.
18 A worthwhile study of both The Lark and Bernstein’s Missa Brevis (based on the
music from The Lark, a transcription suggested by conductor Robert Shaw), is: Patrick
Connor Dittamo, “The Prehistory and Reception of Leonard Bernstein’s Missa Brevis
(1988)” (MM thesis, Kansas State University, 2019).
19 Nigel Simeone, The Leonard Bernstein Letters (New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 2013), 311.
20 William Wright, Lillian Hellman: The Image, the Woman (New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1986), 267–72.
21 For a study of Candide, see: Smith, 99–138.
22 The major biography of Styne is Theodore Taylor’s Jule: The Story of Composer Jule
Styne (New York: Random House, 1979), a useful work that includes many of the
songwriter’s own words and perspectives. Taylor’s popular biography is the major
source for this segment of the chapter with only quotations and unique perspectives
footnoted.
23 Taylor, 19–20.
24 Taylor, 27.
25 Taylor, 36.
26 Taylor, 42.
27 Taylor, 54–55.
28 Taylor, 74–75.
29 Taylor, 97–102.
72 West Side Story and Gypsy
72 
30 Taylor, 127.
31 Data concerning Styne’s Broadway credits have been taken from www​.ibdb​.com,
accessed 19 February 2019.
32 Steven Suskin, Show Tunes: The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway’s Major
Composers, 4th ed., revised and expanded (New York: Oxford University Press,
2010), 220.
33 Taylor, 131.
34 Taylor, 136–37.
35 Taylor, 147.
36 Taylor, 155.
37 Taylor, 156–61.
38 https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​b​.com​​/broa​​dway-​​produ​​ction​​/pal-​​​joey-​​2165, accessed 21 February 2019.
39 Gerald Bordman, American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc., 2001), 638–39.
40 Taylor, 170–71.
41 Taylor, 183.
42 Quoted in: William Zinsser, Easy to Remember: The Great American Songwriters and
Their Songs (Jaffrey, NH: David R. Godine, Publishers, Inc., 2001), 195.
43 Taylor, 185–86.
44 Taylor, 181.
45 Taylor, 189.
46 Bordman, 656.
47 Taylor, 277.
48 Zinsser, 197.
49 Suskin, 336.
50 Such is the designation for Styne’s contribution at https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​b​.com​​/broa​​dway-​​
produ​​ction​​/miss​​-lone​​lyhe​a​​rts​-2​​642, accessed 13 February 2019.
51 https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​b​.com​​/broa​​dway-​​produ​​ction​​/say-​​darl​i​​ng​-26​​84, accessed 22 July 2021.
52 Recording: Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, Say, Darling, Original
Cast, LP (Camden, NJ: RCA Victor, 1958).
53 Taylor, 195.
54 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music. In lieu of writing an autobiography, Ramin and his family
produced this two-hour retrospective on his life. Sid Ramin kindly lent me a copy to
study for my research.
55 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
56 For the letters from the summer of 1933, see Simeone, 4–9. Bernstein’s letter from
12 March 1937 is on p. 14.
57 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
58 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
59 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
60 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
61 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
62 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
63 http://www​.ronramin​.com/, accessed 12 March 2019.
64 Suskin, 73.
65 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
66 https://www​.imdb​.com​/title​/tt0040041/, accessed 12 March 2019.
67 Suskin, 73.
68 https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​b​.com​​/broa​​dway-​​cast-​​staff​​/sid-​​ram​in​​-7240​​7, accessed 15 March 2019.
69 https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​b​.com​​/broa​​dway-​​produ​​ction​​/gyp​s​​y​-274​​3, accessed 15 March 2019.
70 https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​b​.com​​/broa​​dway-​​produ​​ction​​/west​​-side​​-s​tor​​y​-263​​9, accessed 15 March
2019.
71 Suskin, 75.
72 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
 West Side Story and Gypsy  73
73 Suskin, 75.
74 Suskin, 76.
75 Suskin, 434–35.
76 Suskin, 493.
77 Suskin, 77, 545.
78 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
79 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
80 Suskin, 78.
81 The major statement on Ginzler’s biography has been offered by Suskin (pp. 41–47),
but there are errors and gaps that can be filled in with other sources.
82 Suskin, 41.
83 Ginzler is not named in the following studies of Biederbecke: Richard M. Sudhalter
and Philip R. Evans, Bix: Man & Legend (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House,
1974); Ralph Berton, Remembering Bix: A Memoir of the Jazz Age ([Cambridge,
MA]: Da Capo Press, 1974, 2000); Jean Pierre Lion, trans. Gabriella Page-Fort,
Bix: The Definitive Biography of a Jazz Legend (New York: Continuum, 2005); and
Brendan Wolfe, Finding Bix: The Life and Afterlife of a Jazz Legend (Iowa City, IA:
University of Iowa Press, 2017).
84 Richard M. Sudhalter, “Goldkette, Jean,” The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed.
(London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2002), vol. 2, 53.
85 Rex Stewart, “The Jean Goldkette Band,” Down Beat, 34, no. 8 (1967): 30–31.
86 Stewart, 30.
87 Walter Bruyninckx, 60 Years of Recorded Jazz 1917–1977 (Mechelen, Belgium,
1980), G271.
88 Don Rayno, Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music, Volume II: 1930–1967
(Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2013), 473.
89 Suskin, 41.
90 Rayno, vol. 2, 473, includes a brief biography of Ginzler, which includes no men-
tion of activities with Whiteman before joining his new ensemble at the end of 1940.
Bruyninckx also includes no mention of Ginzler making a recording with Whiteman.
The trombonist’s name fails to appear in Bruyninckx’s index despite his one record-
ing session with Goldkette in 1927.
91 Christopher Weait, The New Symphony Orchestra/The Toronto Symphony Orchestra/
The Toronto Symphony: A Master List of Personnel, 1922–1972 (Published by the
author, 1972), no page numbers. Weait reports that Ginzler was principal trombonist
of the Toronto Symphony from 1935 to 1940.
92 Suskin, 42.
93 Suskin, 42.
94 Rayno, 222. The following summary of the tour is derived from Rayno, 548–51.
95 Bruyninckx, vol. W-Z, W343. See also: Tom Lord, The Jazz Discography (West
Vancouver, Canada: Lord Music Reference, Inc., 2001), vol. 25, W585.
96 Suskin, 43.
97 Suskin, 43.
98 Suskin describes this work in the 1940s (p. 43); Rayno reports that Ginzler continued
playing in pit orchestras into the 1950s.
99 Suskin, 105.
100 Suskin, 43.
101 https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​b​.com​​/broa​​dway-​​cast-​​staff​​/robe​​rt​-gi​​n​zler​​-7582​​1, accessed 24 February
2019.
102 Suskin, 44. In his detailed listings of who worked on a number of shows, Suskin
attributes numerous other charts to Ginzler.
103 Suskin, 43.
104 Suskin, 45.
105 Suskin, 45.
74 West Side Story and Gypsy
74 
106 Suskin, 46.
107 Score: Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, Bye Bye Birdie (New York: Strada Music,
1960, 1988), 125–27. Recording: Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, Bye Bye Birdie,
Original Broadway Cast Recording, CD (Columbia SK 89254, 2000), track 13.
108 Edward Jablonski, “Unlikely Corners,” The American Record Guide 26, no. 11 (July
1960): 944. “Baby, Talk to Me” is on pp. 128–32 in the score and track 14 on the
recording.
109 Suskin, 46.
110 Suskin, 44. Score: Frank Loesser, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying
([New York]: Frank Music, 1961, 1962), 44–55. Recording: Frank Loesser, How to
Succeed in Business without Really Trying II, CD (RCA Victor 60352-2-RG, 1961),
track 7.
111 I[rving] K[olodin], “Musical Theatre on the Round,” Saturday Review 44 (December
23, 1961): 58.
112 Suskin, 46.
113 Suskin, 47.
114 Suskin, 55.
115 Suskin, 56.
116 Suskin, 57.
117 Edward Robb Ellis, A Diary of the Century: Tales from America’s Greatest Diarist
(New York: Union Square Press, 2008), 37. Ellis placed the ensemble there on 24
February 1933.
118 Suskin, 57.
119 Burton, 270.
120 Suskin, 58.
121 Suskin, 59.
122 Suskin, 60. The list of orchestrators who worked on the show appears on p. 370.
123 Quoted in Suskin, 60.
124 Suskin, 61.
125 Suskin, 62.
126 Suskin, 578.
127 Suskin, 504–05.
128 Score: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, The Pajama Game (New York: Frank Music
Corp., 1954), 114–21. Recording: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, The Pajama Game,
CD (Prism Leisure PLAYCD 1323, 2005), track 13.
129 Score: Adler and Ross, 45–48. Recording: Adler and Ross, track 6.
130 Suskin, 369.
131 Score: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Damn Yankees (Port Chester, NY: Cherry Lane
Music Co., Inc., 1983), 46–61. Recording: Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Damn
Yankees, CD (RCA Victor 3948-2-RG, 1988), track 4.
132 Suskin, 369.
133 Score: Adler and Ross, Damn Yankees, 62–63. Recording: Adler and Ross, track 6.
134 Suskin, 538–39.
135 Cole Porter, Silk Stockings, An Original Cast Recording, CD (RCA Victor 1102-2-
RG, 1989), track 11.
136 Irwin Kostal, “From Rags to Riches,” an unpublished memoir, written c 1992, quoted
in Suskin, 62–63.
137 Suskin, 482–83.
138 Score: Meredith Willson, The Music Man ([New York]: Frank Music Corp. and
Rinimer Corporation, 1982), 140–45. Recording: Meredith Willson, The Music Man,
Original Broadway Cast, CD (Angel ZDM 7 64663 2, 1992), track 15.
139 Score: Willson, 71–74. Recording: Willson, 8.
140 Score: Willson, 121–33. Recording: Willson, 14.
 West Side Story and Gypsy 75
141 Suskin, 65–66.
142 Richard Stoltzman, “Blog: The Bernstein Sonata,” July 13, 2017, http:​/​/www​​.rich​​
ardst​​oltzm​​an​.co​​m​/blo​​g​/ber​​nste​i​​nsona​​ta, accessed 1 February 2021.
143 Both of these figures worked extensively on Broadway, their careers briefly docu-
mented by Suskin, 154–55. Articles on each also appear in The Grove Dictionary of
American Music, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013): Jane Riegel
Ferencz, “Pitot, Geneviève (Geneviève Sullivan; Mrs. Joseph Sullivan),” vol. 6, 507–
08, and Kara Gardner, “Rittmann, Trude [Gertrude],” vol. 7, 148.
4 Process and effect in the
orchestration of West Side Story

On the way to a score

The conception of West Side Story was a process that took more than eight years
with the majority of it accomplished in the two years before the premiere. The
creators that began the show’s development included director and choreographer
Jerome Robbins, book writer Arthur Laurents, and composer Leonard Bernstein.
Lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who was only 19 years old when Robbins had the
first germ of the idea, did not join the project until October 1955. In response
to friend and actor Montgomery Clift’s question in January 1949 about how he
might update Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,1 Robbins thought of a modern
romance in New York City between a Jewish Romeo and Roman Catholic Juliet.
Although such a relationship would have been unusual in the late 1940s, the con-
cept had been explored dramatically in the comic play Abie’s Irish Rose by Anne
Nichols (1922). Robbins told his friends Laurents and Bernstein about the idea
and they began to discuss it, with a possible title being East Side Story. Laurents
drafted some scenes, sending four to Bernstein in May 1949, but Laurents soon
became concerned because the story had been done before and decided to move
onto other projects. Without Laurents’s interest, Bernstein could not proceed, and
he was already committed to numerous activities as a composer and conductor.
For his part, Robbins decided to wait until they were interested again, believing
them to be the right people for the material.2
That wait took six years. As is often the case, what exactly transpired to get the
ball rolling again is hard to pin down with precision, but at some point Bernstein
and Laurents began to discuss updating Romeo and Juliet in the context of youth
gang rivalries that became such a concern in the 1950s. A letter from Laurents
to Bernstein that Nigel Simeone dates on 19 July 1955 concerns an outline he
had written on the topic and how hot the issue was at the moment.3 In a putative
journal that Bernstein published when the show opened (that he apparently wrote
in 1957 using his datebooks and memory), he said that he was at the pool at the
Beverly Hills Hotel on 25 August 1955 (the composer’s birthday) when they hit
upon the idea of building the story around Puerto Rican and “American” gangs on
Manhattan’s West Side.4 Apparently, the discovery came several weeks before,
following a meeting with Robbins in June 1955 when Bernstein and Laurents

DOI: 10.4324/9780429023378-4
 The orchestration of West Side Story 77
pitched the idea of adapting James M. Cain’s Serenade as an opera. Robbins
remained interested in the Shakespeare adaptation, apparently starting the discus-
sions that led to Laurents’s letter to Bernstein the next month.5 They were off and
running except for a delay of nearly a year between March 1956 and February
1957 while Bernstein worked on Candide, which opened in December 1956.
By September 1955, Laurents and Bernstein had a six-page outline assembled
for the show, to which Robbins responded in a revealing letter of 18 October
1955. The most important points that he makes relative to the show’s score appear
in the following:

About the dancing. It will never be well incorporated into the show unless
some of the principals are dancers. I can see, easily, why Romeo and Juliet
must be singers, but Mercutio [analogous to Riff] has to be a dancer, maybe
Anita, and for sure some of the prominent gang members.6

He continues admitting that it might be easier to rehearse singers and dancers sep-
arately—a common procedure in Broadway preparations—but notes that “it’s by
far most beneficial to the unity of the show to have the principals do everything.”7
This confirms Robbins’s intention to make this a dancing show, which obviously
obliged Bernstein to write several numbers for choreography and necessitated
training a cast of mostly dancers to sing the difficult music.
About the time that Robbins dictated this letter, Sondheim joined the project.
Bernstein had intended to write the show’s lyrics, but he simply did not have
the time. He often worked on several things at once, but the mid-1950s was a
particularly demanding time for the composer/conductor given his simultaneous
work on the scores to two shows, his schedule as a guest conductor, and his asso-
ciation with the television show Omnibus for which did seven major broadcasts
between 1954 and 1957. Overtures had been made to Bernstein’s friends Betty
Comden and Adolph Green as possible lyricists, but they were too busy with
Bells Are Ringing.8 Sondheim and Laurents were friends. Despite the fact that
Sondheim had no Broadway credits, Laurents introduced him to Bernstein to see
if they might be able to collaborate. The composer was sufficiently impressed
to ask Sondheim to come aboard as co-lyricist, but the young artist turned him
down because he wanted to write music and lyrics for shows. His mentor Oscar
Hammerstein II convinced Sondheim to take the job because he would be work-
ing with talented, experienced collaborators. Bernstein and Sondheim became
lifelong friends through the process. The collaboration was not always simple
because of their different work habits and contrasting sensibilities of what con-
stituted good lyrics—Bernstein tending to favor more emotional language than
Sondheim, for example—but they formed a successful team and when they were
finished Bernstein gave Sondheim full credit as lyricist. Sondheim has often criti-
cized his own work for the show and complained that his collaborators some-
times would not allow him to change lyrics in the way that he desired,9 but in his
later work in projects where he had more creative control it has been clear that
Sondheim’s personal style as a lyricist is more realistic and cynical than one might
78 The orchestration of West Side Story
expect to hear from young lovers. A strength of West Side Story was how the col-
laborators steered the project from becoming too much of one thing: Robbins
was unable to make it a ballet, Bernstein could not make the show too operatic,
Laurents had to write a Shakespearean adaptation that made room for a great deal
of music and dancing, and Sondheim could not write the kind of monolog songs
for which he later became famous that might have sounded unconvincing from the
mouths of inarticulate adolescents.
Much of the collaboration on Act 1 took place between November 1955 and
March 1956, that period of productivity interrupted by Bernstein’s need to con-
centrate on Candide. The collaborators re-assembled in February 1957 with West
Side Story scheduled to open that fall. Bernstein’s closest collaborator, Sondheim,
had considerable musical training, later proving himself capable of writing songs
that rivaled Bernstein’s in terms of musical sophistication. This made him a knowl-
edgeable sounding board for the music that Bernstein wrote, probably leading to
significant influence on some songs. Sondheim has stated that he suggested that
“Something’s Coming” should be in a driving 2/4 somewhat like “The Trolley
Song” from Meet Me in St. Louis (an idea more or less followed by Bernstein,
who still changed the meter at times, as was his wont), and the lyricist also states
that he contributed a bit to the tune’s accompaniment.10 Working on two shows at
the same time caused migration of songs, including what became “One Hand, One
Heart” and “Gee, Officer Krupke,” each conceived as part of the Candide score.
As occurs in many shows, songs moved between positions. For example, in the
process of figuring out what Tony and Maria should sing as their first love duet
in the “Balcony Scene,” “Somewhere” and “One Hand, One Heart” were both
tried before the collaborators decided to derive a version of “Tonight” from the
“Quintet” that had already been composed.11
Significant determining factors in the overall sound and approach in West Side
Story’s music were Bernstein’s habitual eclecticism and his tendency to write
music that was more sophisticated than much heard from the Broadway stage. The
influences that he accessed in this score include a traditional Broadway melodic
sensibility, heard in “Tonight” and “Maria”; various Latin tropes in “America”
and “Maria” (the tresillo in the bass line) and dances like the “Mambo”; cool
jazz in the song “Cool”; bop in “Cool” and “Prologue”; blues in the opening of
the “Dance at the Gym” (which verges on rock ‘n’ roll) and elsewhere; the ironic
musical style and effects associated with vaudeville as heard in “Gee, Officer
Krupke”; the dramatic intensity of opera in numbers like the “Balcony Scene”
and “A Boy Like That/I Have a Love”; and devices from concert music like the
fugue in “Cool” and the shifting meters and dissonance in “The Rumble.” It is
fascinating to consider a Broadway score from 1957 that can be compared to the
music of such a wide range of musicians as Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Pérez
Prado, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Marc Blitzstein, Benjamin Britten, Johann
Sebastian Bach, Aaron Copland, and Igor Stravinsky, among others.
Auditions took place in the spring of 1957. West Side Story was not a show in
which the composer wrote songs with a particular singer in mind, unlike Gypsy
where Jule Styne composed for Ethel Merman’s voice. The creators of West Side
 The orchestration of West Side Story 79
Story purposefully cast young, fairly unknown performers, knowing that a star
who generated applause by walking on stage would be a distraction from the
ensemble ethos. As a composer, therefore, Bernstein mostly wrote what he wanted
to and then helped teach the difficult music to the singers. The eight weeks of
rehearsals took place from June to August, during which music was rewritten and
adjusted as needed. Bernstein and Sondheim wrote the final song, “Something’s
Coming,” on 7 August, providing Tony with the “I want” song that he needed to
define his character.12 As will be described below in detail, Bernstein also worked
on the orchestrations with Sid Ramin and Red Ginzler during the summer. When
the show opened in Washington, DC, on 19 August for its first out-of-town try-
out, the score was pretty well set and there were few changes.
Many have commented upon the apparent use of recurring motives in West
Side Story,13 several of which will be identified and commented upon later in this
chapter. Nigel Simeone has written about the score’s apparent musico-dramatic
unification, in the title of that section of the book quoting the composer saying: “I
didn’t do all of this on purpose.”14 As Simeone states, there exists a single page
of manuscript in Bernstein’s hand in which he identified nine leitmotifs for West
Side Story,15 which Simeone believes dates from considerably after the time that
Bernstein wrote the score. Given how carefully the score seems to be unified,
especially through the use of the tritone, it seems doubtful that Bernstein was
completely oblivious to what he was doing while writing the music, especially
when one considers that similar efforts—if not quite as ambitious in scope—can
be found in the dramatic scores that he wrote before West Side Story: On the
Town, Wonderful Town, Trouble in Tahiti, and Candide.16
Collaboration is a messy business with opinions and egos clashing, leading,
for example, to changes in the score that Bernstein didn’t want or like, as well as
alterations in other elements of the show to which the principal creator in that area
probably objected. Robbins was not afraid to stick his hand in wherever he felt
the need, and he could be high-handed with the way that he dealt with Bernstein’s
music. Humphrey Burton reports, for example, that at the dress rehearsal in
Washington, Robbins went straight to Max Goberman, the orchestral conductor,
and ordered a rhythmic pulse to be added in the second verse of “Somewhere.”
As was typical when he dealt with Robbins, Bernstein said nothing, but Sondheim
found him at a bar ready to down several scotches.17 Bernstein knew with whom
he was dealing and probably expected such treatment. During the rehearsals, when
his wife and children were visiting her family in Chile, he wrote to Felicia on 19
July 1957: “The work grinds on, relentlessly, and sleep is a rare blessing. Jerry
continues to be – well, Jerry: moody, demanding, hurting. But vastly talented.”18
The composer in him, however, felt the pressure from collaborators and, at least to
an extent, resented it. A week later he wrote to Felicia: “The show – ah, yes. I am
depressed with it. All the aspects of the score I like best – the ‘big’, poetic parts
– get criticized as ‘operatic’ – & there’s a concerted move to chuck them. What’s
the use?”19 The “use,” of course, was that West Side Story combined the work
and opinions of four different artists who shaped in multiple, perhaps undefinable
ways, aspects of the show that were not directly under their aegis, probably with
80 The orchestration of West Side Story
Robbins having the final say when necessary. The score emerged from the minds
of Bernstein and Sondheim, further shaped by Laurents and Robbins. The final
stage of producing the score was its orchestration, the topic of the remainder of
this chapter.

The process: Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal

as co-creators of the score
Orchestration is one of the last elements to come together for a Broadway musi-
cal. The reason is obvious: the score must be nearly completed before it is worth
orchestrating anything, and in many shows the score is not in such a state until
nearly the end of the rehearsal period. The process of preparing music for the
pit orchestra, therefore, is always rushed, making believable Sid Ramin’s state-
ment that most of the orchestrations for West Side Story were done in a period of
about three weeks. When one considers an event that involved Leonard Bernstein,
useful sources are his datebooks that are part of the Bernstein Collection at the
Library of Congress, so we often know when meetings took place. His first meet-
ing with Ramin, when he presumably asked his long-time friend to orchestrate
the show, was on 20 June 1957,20 when Bernstein would have been considering
the matter with the show scheduled to open for its first out-of-town try-out in
Washington, DC, in the middle of August. Ramin’s initial reaction was cautious
because he knew that Bernstein’s score would likely include a number of classical
references and Ramin’s greatest expertise was in commercial music, meaning that
he dealt on a regular basis with the sounds of jazz, various types of Latin music,
blues, and other styles common in the 1950s. As Irwin Kostal told the story in his
unpublished memoir, Ramin was concerned about damaging his friendship with
Bernstein if he could not deliver some of the things that the composer wanted in the
score, so Ramin came to Kostal, because of his “high regard for my musicianship”
and Ramin knew that Kostal had detailed knowledge of classical music.21 Ramin
asked Kostal soon after 20 June. Bernstein approved of the choice, and the three
men met for the first time on 26 June, presumably initiating an intensive period of
work together.22 Bernstein’s datebook lists meetings on 18, 22, and 24 July and
2 August, but Ramin and Kostal would also have been present at many rehears-
als and presumably they met many times about the project. The show’s credit
states: “Orchestrations by Leonard Bernstein with Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal.”
Ramin and Kostal did the actual writing but, as will be shown below, Bernstein
gave them detailed instructions, and both men afterwards acknowledged that they
orchestrated the music the way that Bernstein requested it to be done.
One of the trio’s first tasks was to visit the Winter Garden Theater, where West
Side Story would open in late September, to listen to the house musicians. When
exactly they did this and what they might have heard is unknown. The last pro-
duction, Ziegfeld Follies of 1957, had closed on 15 June and the theater was dark
until West Side Story opened.23 Kostal stated that they went to the theater to hear
the “orchestra that we might have to use.”24 The musicians union insisted upon
a provision that each theater designated four “housemen” that played any show
 The orchestration of West Side Story 81
booked into the theater, or probably at least got paid for doing so. Whatever the
orchestrators from West Side Story heard when they went, they ended up discuss-
ing two cellists and a violist, the latter who served as the house contractor. (Burton
states that there were two violists among the “housemen,” and intimates that there
were some violinists as well.25) They did not use the violist, whom they had trou-
ble hearing, but as will be covered below, they also had limits from the producers
on the number of musicians they could use and decided to leave violists out of the
orchestra. The two cellists among the “housemen” were not very good, so they
resolved to use them on simpler passages and when everyone was playing.26 A
similar procedure might have been used with violinists as well.27 Bernstein seems
to have had at least some input on who got hired for the majority of positions in
the pit orchestra.
The number of musicians in this pit orchestra was a matter of debate between
Bernstein and the producers. Cheryl Crawford was the lead producer until late
April 1957, when she left the show after Robbins, Bernstein, Laurents, and
Sondheim refused to make changes that she requested.28 (The team of Harold
Prince and Robert E. Griffith replaced her, with Roger Stevens staying on as a
producer who left most of the creative decisions to his colleagues.) Apparently
after Bernstein had asked for 30 musicians in early negotiations, Crawford wrote
Stevens a letter on 10 July 1956 stating that she thought it to be “foolhardy”
to guarantee that many musicians when they did not even know which theater
they would be using at that point or who might be in the cast. She then spoke of
how many musicians were in other pits or how many were scheduled: 30 in My
Fair Lady in the large Mark Hellinger Theater, 26 in what she identifies as the
“Merman show” (Happy Hunting, which opened on 6 December 1956), and 28
musicians in the Judy Holliday show (Bells Are Ringing, opened 29 November
1956).29 The contract that Bernstein and the show’s other creators signed with
Crawford stated that there would be between 26 and 30 musicians in the orchestra
for West Side Story, the actual number to be agreed upon 6 weeks before rehears-
als started.
Bernstein left undated notes of three possible scorings for the orchestra, mostly
playing around with possibilities that totaled 28 musicians.30 Five reed books with
various doublings appear on each list, two of them with a book for bassoon only
and the third list with “Bn only?” written after the list of five books. This unusual
presence in a Broadway pit orchestra was a provision for the bassoonist Sanford
Sharoff, Bernstein’s friend from when they were both students at the Curtis
Institute of Music. Sharoff had already played in the pit orchestras for Wonderful
Town and Candide and was also in West Side Story.31 (Ramin has stated that
Bernstein’s insistence on a dedicated bassoon book “forced us into being very
inventive in how we treated the other instruments.”32) None of the doublings in
the reed books that Bernstein suggested in his notes were as complicated as some
of those that were actually used. He never allowed for more than three different
instruments in a book in his three lists, but the first four reed books used in the
pit each included between three and eight instruments, as shown below. In each
of his possible configurations, Bernstein listed seven brass instruments—three
82 The orchestration of West Side Story
trumpets, two horns, and two trombones—exactly what appeared in the orchestra.
In one list, he noted that one trumpet player needed to be a “screamer.” In each
list, Bernstein named a pianist, guitarist, and two percussionists, but he was less
sure what to do about the strings, figuring on a total of 12, perhaps with or without
violists, 7 or 9 violinists, 2 or 4 cellists (depending on if there were violists), and 1
contrabass. The actual configuration of the 28 musicians hired for the pit orchestra
was as follows:

Reed I: piccolo, flute, alto saxophone, clarinet in B-flat, bass clarinet

Reed II: clarinet in E-flat, clarinet in B-flat, bass clarinet
Reed III: piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone,
clarinet in B-flat, bass clarinet
Reed IV: piccolo, flute, soprano saxophone, bass saxophone, clarinet in B-flat,
bass clarinet
Reed V: bassoon
Two horns in F
Three trumpets in B-flat (second doubling trumpet in D)
Two trombones
Percussion (two players33): traps, timpani, vibraphone, four pitched drums, güiro,
xylophone, three bongos, three cowbells, conga, timbales, snare drum, police
whistle, gourd, two suspended cymbals, castanets, maracas, finger cymbals,
tambourines, small maracas, glockenspiel, woodblock, chimes, triangle, tem-
ple blocks, chimes, tam-tam, ratchet, slide whistle34
Piano/celesta
Electric guitar/Spanish guitar/mandolin
Violin I–VII
Cello I–IV
Contrabass

The score to West Side Story can be divided into different soundscapes that tend
to be dominated by various combinations of instruments, each contributing to
characterization and plot development. Some special possibilities in the wood-
wind doublings that we will note are the three piccolos and the four bass clarinets,
the latter producing a distinctive timbre when combined with bassoon. Three of
the reed books also include one or more saxophones, which sound extensively in
the jazzy soundscape associated with the Jets. Suskin suggests that the way that
Bernstein used saxophones in the show meant that younger reed players, who
were more comfortable with jazz than some of the more experienced musicians,
needed to be hired for West Side Story.35 Bernstein also called upon brass players
for versatility with prominent passages in both symphonic and jazz styles, along
with frequent use of various mutes. The rich presence of Latin percussion instru-
ments in the soundscape associated with the Sharks and “Dance at the Gym” is
compelling. The soundscape for the lovers was dominated by strings, what one
might have expected. The absence of violas, as Suskin has stated, was unusual
in a show that at times required a symphonic sound; violas had been excluded
 The orchestration of West Side Story 83
from other shows where there was a great deal of popular-based dance music.36
The composer approved of the absence of violas for West Side Story, but Ramin
and Kostal in this and other projects demonstrated an idiosyncratic approach to
scoring for strings. While working on West Side Story, they believed that a cello
could do anything that a viola could, and that is certainly what some passages
for Cello 1 and 2 sound like. Ramin carried this attitude into his work on Gypsy
with Robert Ginzler, but then when he worked on A Funny Thing Happened on
the Way to the Forum with Kostal, they excluded violins from the orchestra and
wrote for violas instead.37 Sometimes it seems hard to distinguish between arrang-
ers on a particular project serving the needs of a show or setting for themselves
intellectual challenges.
The process of how Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal orchestrated West Side Story
has been described by the composer in broad outlines and by his assistants in
some detail. We will recount those statements and their implications here in prep-
aration for a foray into the manuscripts, which bring more clarity and definitive
shape to the process. Recollections by those who did the orchestrating will form a
crucial part of our understanding of the process, but as will be seen, there remain
questions that are worth pursuing given the importance of the show in the his-
tory of the Broadway repertory and the significance of the composer in American
music. The critical question to address is just how much the manuscripts confirm
Bernstein’s participation in the process. As we will see, statements from all three
men seem to establish his dominance in the task—and, as noted above, the offi-
cial credits state this as well—but we are faced with a manuscript legacy in the
orchestration where almost every note and word is in the hand of either Ramin or
Kostal. What will be shown is that the manuscripts also provide fascinating hints
of Bernstein’s participation that correspond with the way his work on the orches-
tration has been described by all three men.
Ramin provided the general parameters of their collaboration, which centered
around what he called the “pre-orchestration” and “post-orchestration” meetings,
at least some of which took place at the Osborn, the apartment building near
Carnegie Hall where Bernstein lived at the time. At the first meeting for a particu-
lar number, Bernstein would play it at the piano and then they would

examine very measure of the score in detail, discussing all orchestral pos-
sibilities. Although the sketches were very complete, he encouraged and wel-
comed all suggestions, especially the more popular musical embellishments
that may not have occurred to him as a classicist.38

The score that they examined would have been the piano/vocal version of the
song or dance; in an interview with Allen Shawm, Ramin described these “as
the most complete and detailed he ever worked with in the theater.”39 After the
first meeting, Ramin and Kostal prepared a draft of the orchestration that they
would bring to another meeting with Bernstein: “Irwin and I would return with
our scores a few days later for a ‘post-orchestration’ meeting. Red pencil in hand,
Lenny would delete or add to our scores.”40 In an interview with Suskin, Ramin
84 The orchestration of West Side Story
stated that the composer “literally proofread what we wrote.”41 Bernstein would
either approve or delete an idea they had added “in moments of inspiration” and
discussion would also ensue over “the ranges and limits of certain instruments
that he suggested we use.”42 Ramin also reports that he and Kostal sometimes
had questions as to whether or not the musicians would be able to play a certain
passage, and Bernstein would reassure them.43 Descriptions of the process from
those involved tend to suggest that Bernstein made the changes in the scores at the
“post-orchestration” meetings but, as will be shown below, all three men wrote in
the draft partiturs. Whether or not they wrote all of these markings at the meetings
that Ramin describes or at another time cannot be known, but both Ramin and
Kostal state that Bernstein closely supervised the process, so we must conclude
that whichever actor in the process wrote the marking, it was with the composer’s
blessing.
Kostal remembered things a bit differently: “Sid and I spent at least twelve
hours a day working with Lenny on every song and dance routine in West Side
Story, and as each item was decided, Sid and I would go to my house and do the
orchestrations.”44 Surely these meetings were detailed and it might take a matter
of hours to discuss each aspect of a number in terms of its orchestrational pos-
sibilities, but it seems unlikely that, given all of the demands on Bernstein’s time
during West Side Story rehearsals, he would have had 12 hours each day to discuss
orchestration. Indeed, on 8 August 1957, Bernstein wrote the following to his wife
Felicia, who was visiting family in Chile with the couple’s two children: “These
days have flown so – I don’t sleep much; I work every – literally every – second
(since I’m doing four jobs on this show – composing, lyric writing, orchestrating,
& rehearsing the cast). It’s murder, but I’m excited.”45 Kostal described their pro-
ject as a voyage of mutual discovery that Bernstein enjoyed with his executants:

He took keen delight in his own creativity and jumped for joy whenever Sid
or I added a little originality of our own. He sometimes would look at one of
our scores and say, “Who said orchestration couldn’t be creative?” And he’d
hug us warmly.46

Kostal also reported that Bernstein once told him how much he benefited from his
collaborations, saying: “I learned everything I know from everyone I meet. I pick
their brains.” To this, Kostal added: “Yeah, sure. He learned everything I know,
but I didn’t learn everything he knows.”47
As is usually the case when one must rely on anecdotes and reminisces, details
about the actual process are hard to find. For example, Ramin mused that every
show would include one number where it was difficult to get the orchestrations
right, and for West Side Story that was “Something’s Coming.” In various places
he reported that either Robbins and Sondheim disliked the orchestration they had
prepared, or just Sondheim, but both versions state that Ramin and Kostal reworked
the number several times but Robbins and/or Sondheim remained dissatisfied. He
states: “in desperation, we went back to the original version. Suddenly, everyone
approved.”48 As stated above, “Something’s Coming” was the last song added to
 The orchestration of West Side Story 85
the score.49 Bernstein and Sondheim wrote it on 7 August while in Washington,
DC, preparing for the out-of-town opening on 19 August, so all of this rewriting
took place hurriedly.
According to Kostal, probably in one of the “pre-orchestration” meetings, he
reacted to a “repetitive rhythm” that Bernstein had written for “Tonight” and sug-
gested that perhaps they should make it a beguine. (Kostal probably refers to the
song in the “Balcony Scene” here, which is more obviously a beguine, but that
was derived from the “Tonight Quintet,” which also has a repetitive rhythm in
its accompaniment when the lovers are singing.) Bernstein was “beside himself”
and stated, “I do not compose beguines.”50 Kostal demonstrated what he meant
at the piano and Bernstein agreed to the suggestion but said they would “disguise
it.” It is impossible to know for certain who conceived “Tonight” as a beguine,
but the song used in the “Balcony Scene” survives in Bernstein’s hand with the
repetitive eighth-note rhythms written in, perhaps already inserted by the com-
poser or perhaps written in reaction to a suggestion from Kostal.51 An anecdote
also survives about how Robbins reacted to an aspect of the orchestration. In an
unspecified tune, he objected to the flutes on the top notes in a section where all
five reeds were playing; Bernstein told Ramin to put the oboe on the top notes and
that satisfied the director. Ramin cited that to show “the kind of detail we had to
cope with.”52
The composer dropped a few hints to Felicia about the orchestration in letters
during the period of preparation. On 8 August, he stated: “Of course we’re way
behind on orchestration etc. – but that’s the usual hassle.”53 A week later, he had
more to say:

Up all night trying to put together an overture of sorts, to carry us through

until I do a real good prelude. Orchestra reading all day yesterday – a thrill.
We have surprisingly good men, who can really play this terribly difficult
stuff (except one or two of them) – the orchestrations have turned out bril-
liant. [In the end, the show had no overture or prelude, starting with the
“Prologue.”]

After noting that the cast, authors, and orchestras have all been given “black mar-
ket” inoculations for Asian flu, he also states: “If the guitarist gets sick, it takes
a week for another to learn the part. Same for all the winds. It’s a tough show.”54
When describing the orchestration in this chapter, everything will be attrib-
uted to Bernstein. Ramin and Kostal agreed that Bernstein was in charge. Kostal
reported: “Even though Sid and I did the orchestrations, there can be no doubt
that we only fulfilled Lenny’s instructions.” He went on to note that “only time
prevented him from scoring everything himself.”55 This was certainly the case
in a show where Bernstein was also involved with teaching the cast his difficult
score and consulting endlessly with his collaborators on matters large and small.
Ramin stated that “Lenny was a real stickler for detail” and that great care went
into all revisions.56 Simeone also states: “The complete score (reproduced from
Ramin and Kostal’s manuscript) in the Sid Ramin Papers [at Columbia University
86 The orchestration of West Side Story
Archive] bears witness to Bernstein’s revisions,” an aspect of this story that will
be considered in the next section.

The manuscripts and the story they tell

Writing, rehearsing, and premiering a new musical is an act of endless collab-
oration between numerous figures with varying areas of expertise. Their work
together creates drafts of scripts, lists of lighting cues and props, designs, songs,
and other documents. Those materials and anecdotes offered by those involved
in creating the show provide the majority of the history one can generate, but
anecdotes from interviews and published sources never fill in all of the missing
steps that one finds between extant documents. This is certainly the case when
trying to assemble a timeline in the creation of the score for West Side Story. For
example, we have limited description of the collaboration between Bernstein and
Sondheim, a narrative generally showing that Bernstein had hoped to write the
lyrics himself, time forced him to seek assistance, and Arthur Laurents introduced
the composer to Sondheim. The subsequent joint work between composer and
wordsmith moved from contractual co-lyricists to the younger man’s dominance
of the textual side, leading Bernstein to grant Sondheim full credit for the lyr-
ics.57 This story gains specificity and texture through some anecdotes—such as
Sondheim insisting that Bernstein divide up the long notes in “One Hand, One
Heart” so that he could write more lyrics for the song58—but most of what we
“know” about their collaboration emerges in observable relationships between
text and music. As shown above, our real knowledge of the orchestrational pro-
cess—the other major collaborative act of producing the score—is similarly
sketchy. We also know comparatively little about how songs or dance numbers
changed during rehearsals. The many extant musical manuscripts from West Side
Story offer details of musical segments and lyrics that were tossed out or changed,
but few are dated, so the history that can be written about the process might be rich
in details but uncertain on chronology. What will be shown here through a study
of the manuscripts is how Bernstein clearly thought about orchestration at each
stage of the compositional process: from the sketches to the scores, one finds vis-
ible evidence of his presence and leadership through suggesting instruments for
various musical lines to corrections and changes in his hand. The examples cited
below for West Side Story will be supplemented with observations from some of
his other compositional projects, both theatrical scores and concert works.

Bernstein and orchestration

Since our intention here is to seek information from the manuscripts on how
Bernstein supervised the orchestration of West Side Story, a short side trip into
his education and habits as an orchestrator would be useful. Bernstein’s musical
education included interactions with a number of musicians who orchestrated on a
regular basis. During his undergraduate study at Harvard, Bernstein studied music
theory with Walter Piston and orchestration with Edward Burlingame Hill, both
 The orchestration of West Side Story 87
composers known for their orchestral music. Bernstein later commented on Hill’s
wide knowledge of the field.59 Bernstein’s two years at the Curtis Institute of
Music (1939–41) included instruction in orchestration from Randall Thompson,
another noted American composer. Bernstein informally studied composition
with Aaron Copland during visits in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and these
discussions surely included thoughts about the process of arranging one’s music
for orchestra. Bernstein also would have learned a great deal about orchestra-
tion during his training in conducting at Curtis with Fritz Reiner and with Serge
Koussevitzky at Tanglewood, because symphonic conductors must learn the
strengths and weaknesses of each instrument in the ensemble and how to balance
the complicated timbres that combine to form the orchestral sound.
All of these experiences had taught Bernstein a good bit about orchestration by
the time that he finished his Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah in late 1942, a work that
demonstrates the variety of timbres that he already sought from an orchestra and
includes memorable moments in its scoring. His music for the ballet Fancy Free
(1944) featured a wide variety of musical styles, from symphonic versions of jazz,
blues, and other popular idioms to sections clearly inspired by Bernstein’s mentor
Copland, and material that would have sounded at home in Russian ballet scores
and tone poems of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.60 Bernstein
provided each of these segments with appropriate orchestration, for example at
the opening, after the song “Big Stuff,” where he effectively imitates big band
scoring. He seems to have already absorbed the characteristic use of each of the
orchestral families in these first two works, even managing some originality and
variety. His diverse uses of wind instruments in both solo capacities and combin-
ing in sections in both the symphony and ballet are compelling. This early in his
career, Bernstein already made distinctive use of percussion instruments, such
as instructing the timpanist to strike the instruments with maracas in the second
movement of Jeremiah, a trick that also appears in “America” of West Side Story.
Bernstein uses piano as a prominent part of the orchestra in both works—a pre-
dilection that he might have learned from Copland in such works as Rodeo and
Appalachian Spring—especially in Fancy Free, where the pianist plays a good
bit of jazz-inflected material, contributing mightily to the party atmosphere. Many
other moments of Bernstein’s effective orchestration in concert music composed
before West Side Story could be cited, but some related to the styles that appear
in the show’s score include the bop-like material in the “Masque” of Symphony
No. 2, The Age of Anxiety (1949) and the symphonic jazz that closes the Serenade
after Plato’s Symposium (1954). By the time he wrote West Side Story, Bernstein
had demonstrated that he was an imaginative orchestrator who knew how to real-
ize various vernacular musical styles with an orchestra.

Sketches
Bernstein’s first documentation as he wrote a new piece of music sometimes
appeared in the form of written notes on paper from a yellow legal pad, but this was
more important when he was writing a longer work, perhaps several movements
88 The orchestration of West Side Story
that needed organizing, like a symphony or the choral work Chichester Psalms.61
These sources do not tend to survive for short numbers in one of his Broadway
shows, but such pages of notes do exist for West Side Story, such as a page at
the end of Folder 1077/12, sketches for the “Dance at the Gym” on which the
composer muses about possible sections for this scene. It would appear to include
ideas that did not make it into the show, with a “Montage” that starts with “Rocky
Jets” (which perhaps became the “Blues”62) then “Mambo bit” followed by an
enigmatic segment called “Hillbilly,” “Maria” (probably the “Cha-Cha”), and
finally “Jets or other to finish (Promenade).” Another small page with different
notes concerning “Dance at the Gym” is in Folder 1077/13.
The first document for one of Bernstein’s musical theater songs is usually a
sketch, which might range from a few measures of a melody, perhaps with some
accompaniment but no text, to a full piano/vocal version with text and tempo
marking. For example, an early version of the melody to “Somewhere” appears
at the bottom of a page (Folder 1050/6) below a melody that became part of the
second movement of Chichester Psalms. The “Somewhere” snippet is in an eight-
measure canon, and Folder 1079/9 includes a one-page sketch of just part of the
melody and another text marked “Antedates Somewhere (WSS).” An example of
a sketch that is a detailed working out of melody and accompaniment appears in
Folder 1079/4: a more or less complete version of “Something’s Coming,” ren-
dered legibly but without great care. In some sketches, one can find sections that
were later cut, perhaps used elsewhere, or never heard from again. For example,
Folder 1077/12 includes numerous sketches for “Dance at the Gym,” including pp.
30–31 with music in four marked “Huapango,” a repetitious idea that Bernstein
did not use in the show, unrelated to the huapango heard in “America.” The main
information that Bernstein would have wanted to include in sketches would be the
notes and rhythms in the vocal line(s) and piano accompaniment, probably with
the text as it existed at that moment, but often lyrics are not finalized until later.
One might have expected a number’s orchestration to be fairly far from
Bernstein’s thinking when he was conceiving a song or dance number—and it
is true that orchestral indications are relatively rare in sketches for West Side
Story—but one does find the composer providing notes about possible instru-
mentation even in an early stage in the creative process. Folder 1077/12 includes
several instrumental indications in what would appear to be an early rendition of
ideas for the “Dance at the Gym.” On p. 7, including rhythms and motives that
appear in the “Scherzo” on a three-line score for voice and accompaniment, in the
third line Bernstein wrote “(Guitar, etc),” the only instrumental indication on the
page. In sketches this preliminary, one does not always find material that became
part of the show. Certainly, there are sections—p. 15, for example, includes mate-
rial that became part of the “Jump”—but on p. 19 (see Figure 4.1), which includes
instrumental indications, there are gestures only similar to sections of the “Dance
at the Gym.” The word “mambo” appears, but this is not a passage from that
dance in the show. As Bernstein drafted the page, he included pitched drum parts
on the third line of the first system, marked another gesture “str ad lib (mambo)”
later in the same line, suggested that E-flat clarinet and piccolo might double in
 The orchestration of West Side Story 89

Figure 4.1 L
 ibrary of Congress, Bernstein Collection, Folder 1077/12, West Side Story,
“Dance at the Gym,” Holographic sketches, p. 19, detail.

the first line of the second system, and included a doubling for xylophone and
trumpet with mute in the second line of the third system.
This folder also includes inserts for the “Prologue” and “The Rumble” on p.
36, the latter including the marking “Big Drums” in a keyboard sketch that cor-
responds for a few measures with the orchestral score (p. 308, mm. 96–9763).
The next page in the folder is the abovementioned yellow legal sheet—words
perhaps written before composing any music—which bears the phrase “Drums
on entrances,” probably in reference to the “Blues” (identified here as “Rocky
Jets,” including “2 choruses Blues”). Bernstein suggests that the drum entrance
would be “4 bars + 4 bars with chords”; how this might relate to the final version
of the “Blues,” if at all, is unclear. Another sketch with instrumental suggestions
90 The orchestration of West Side Story
is 1078/12, a version of the “Prologue” with vocal lines that later were removed.
Figure 4.2 opens with the indication “Br CS,” perhaps meaning “brass con sor-
dino,” and muted trumpets do play at the opening of the show, which is what this
became. The familiar saxophone motive appears in the middle of the second line,
but Bernstein wrote “Cl[arinet].” (The text that Bernstein wrote in over the second
line is dialogue later cut from the scene.) Folder 1078/15 is a sketch of important
drum parts for the “Prologue” with two snare drums, tenor drums, and bass drums
named in abbreviations.
One also finds indications for possible orchestration ideas in sketches of
Bernstein’s other musical theater works, not in the majority of the manuscripts,
but in enough to see that this was a common practice for him. For example, one
can find such indications in sketches for On the Town (1944, Folder 1067/9) and
Wonderful Town (1953, 1030/24), the latter, for example, including indications
for brass scoring. From Candide (1956), Folder 1049/4 provides sketches for the
“Paris Waltz Scene,” which not only have several possible instrumentation sug-
gestions written by Bernstein on other pages, but also a note about the music being
played by an orchestra in the balcony (see Figure 4.3): “on D mi[nor] pass to small
orch[estra] in the balcony which plays alone until ecstatic meeting of C[andide]
+ C[unegonde] (Leave-taking of guests in 5/4 – breaking up.).” The third system
includes another reference to the “stage orch[estra]” with a stage direction.
The composer’s sketch of his famous Overture to Candide (1048/38) includes
numerous instrumental indications. From Mass (1971), Bernstein placed orches-
trational indications in sketches for the “Psalm de profundis” (1064/14) and
the “Sanctus” (1064/16), among other numbers. An example of the practice
in the manuscripts for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue appears in sketches for the

Figure 4.2 L
 ibrary of Congress, Bernstein Collection, Folder 1078/12, West Side Story,
“Opening (vocal prologue),” Manuscript piano-vocal score/sketch, p. 1, detail.
 The orchestration of West Side Story 91

Figure 4.3 L
 ibrary of Congress, Bernstein Collection, Folder 1049/4, Candide, “Paris
Waltz Scene,” Holographic sketch in pencil, p. 3, detail.

“Act I Finale.” Instrumental references in the figure include: “H[or]ns” in m. 2,

“gliss[ando]” in m. 3, “B[assoon]n” and “v[io]l[i]n solo” in m. 4, and “Picc[olo]”
in m. 5.
In 1979, Bernstein worked on a possible show called Alarums and Flourishes
with Arthur Laurents, and its surviving sketches (1045/13) include various instru-
mental indications. Sketches for the opera A Quiet Place also sometimes included
indications for orchestration, such as those for Scene 2 (1070/2) and Scene 3
(1070/3). This was also the case in works for other genres by Bernstein, as may be
seen, for example, in sketches for the 1946 ballet Facsimile (1084/2).

Holographic piano/vocal scores and short scores

Once Bernstein knew from one or more sketches that he had indeed composed
a worthwhile musical theater number, he prepared a piano/vocal score, the fair
copy. These sources can be very close to the song as it has become known but
further revisions were certainly possible, especially in the lyrics. If the song
92 The orchestration of West Side Story
changed significantly during the rehearsal process, Bernstein wrote out what was
needed, as may be seen in the frequent “inserts” one finds for numbers. His piano/
vocal scores were used later by the orchestrators. As is the case with sketches,
Bernstein’s habits at this point varied, with some piano/vocal scores being devoid
of any suggestions for orchestrations and others including numerous indications.
A slightly more detailed type of manuscript that also falls into this intermediate
stage of creating a theatrical number would be a short score, which includes three
or four musical lines and often numerous instrumental indications. This type of
source is much less common in Bernstein’s musical theater manuscripts and tends
to be more common for instrumental numbers. Good examples of Bernstein’s
short scores are those that he prepared for the film score to On the Waterfront
(1954), such as in Folder 1084/16. The orchestration for that project was done by
studio orchestrators at Columbia.
An excellent example of a holographic piano/vocal score from West Side Story
is an insert for the ballet sequence for “Somewhere” (1079/10), which at times
includes one or more extra lines, making it closer to a short score. As may be seen
in Figure 4.4, Bernstein included the drum line at the opening, which corresponds
to what one finds in the timpani and trap set on page 350 of the orchestral score.
Towards the end of the song, the composer indicated that the bass line should
be played tremolo. On page [12] of the manuscript, there are several orchestral
markings in red that appear to be in Bernstein’s hand, perhaps indicating that this
manuscript was present at the “pre-orchestration” meeting where the composer
wrote down notes for Ramin and Kostal. In the first measure, one also finds the
rhythms for the drums recorded. The next page, an insert, is a four-line short
score, the top two lines a reduction for most of the orchestra and the other two
lines for piano and percussion. The page includes no other instrumental indica-
tions. Page 14 of the folder includes one of the most specific set of orchestral
markings in the show’s holographic scores, as may be seen in the excerpt in
Figure 4.5. (The instrumental indications are all in red in the original, with the
major concentrations of them appearing in mm. 1 and 5.) One can see the result of

Figure 4.4 L
 ibrary of Congress, Bernstein Collection, Folder 1079/10, West Side Story,
“Somewhere Ballet Sequence,” Holographic insert, p. 1, detail.
 The orchestration of West Side Story 93

Figure 4.5 L
 ibrary of Congress, Bernstein Collection, Folder 1079/10, West Side Story,
“Somewhere Ballet Sequence,” Holographic insert, p. 14, detail.

these instructions in the published orchestral score on pages 366–67, mm. 112ff.
The following page, marked “End of Ballet (Somewhere),” includes a snare drum
line that did not make it into the final score.
Another manuscript where Bernstein made sure to tell Ramin and Kostal
exactly what he wanted occurs in the piano/vocal score (1079/17) called
“[Tonight] Balcony scene,” on a page that presents some of the underscoring as
Tony and Maria speak at the beginning of the scene. Bernstein included the six-
measure cello solo that appears in the orchestral score on page 148, mm. 20–25.
There are other pages in the folder with instrumental indications not unlike those
described above in the ballet. As may be seen, Bernstein’s instructions to Ramin
and Kostal included written notes in some scores, and his participation in conceiv-
ing the orchestrations is documented in manuscripts that were probably used at
the “pre-orchestration” meetings.
In the same manner that Bernstein’s sketches in other musical theater works
and concert pieces sometimes include instrumental indications for future orches-
tration, the process can also be documented in the piano/vocal scores. Similar
to the West Side Story manuscripts, one does not encounter indications in the
majority of holographic piano/vocal manuscripts from other shows, but Bernstein
94 The orchestration of West Side Story
also probably provided verbal suggestions to orchestrators in some of these other
projects. Such sources from Wonderful Town include several fascinating proofs
of his thinking about orchestration at this point in the compositional process.
Bernstein included a stylistic instruction for the orchestrator in “Ohio” (1080/13)
at the moment when Ruth reminds Eileen how “stifling” their home state had
been. He wrote “[Hal Kemp type arrangement: muted tpts, lots of fast dry tri-
ple-tongued triplets.]”64 In the short piano/vocal score entitled “Opening Routine
After Chorus (after p. 16)” (1080/15), Bernstein provided his orchestrators with
the kind of advice often needed when attending to the myriad of details in fin-
ishing a Broadway score: “Arrange orchestrally from p. 14, 3rd system, bar 1,
a minor third lower.” In the piano/vocal score for “Swing” (1080/20), the com-
poser wanted to make sure that the proper tone was set in the orchestra, providing
the comment “(ad lib drumming)” in m. 3 after providing characteristic rhythms.
Then in the fourth line he wrote the opening clarinet lick and specified the instru-
ment. One also finds in the show’s piano/vocal scores several instrumental sug-
gestions on the “Dance Sequences” for “Conquering the City” (1080/3).
An interesting feature in the Candide manuscripts is the numerous recognitions
of instrumentalists on stage. Folder 1047/5 (pp. 6, 8) contains sketches and piano/
vocal score for the “Battle Scene,” and in both Bernstein wrote in indications of
the trumpets played on stage. In terms of the pit orchestra, fine examples include
the “Auto da Fé” (1047/2, pp. 2, 3, 6) where the composer provided trumpet and
chime parts in what amounts to a short score and “Bon Voyage” (1047/11, p. 8;
see Figure 4.6) includes several touches in the woodwinds that Bernstein wanted,
in order for bassoon, two references to clarinet, oboe, flute, and piccolo.
Jerome Robbins and Bernstein considered Bertolt Brecht’s The Exception and
the Rule for adaptation into a musical theater work, collaborating on it twice, in
1968 and again in the late 1980s, but nothing ever came of the show. A folder
of piano/vocal scores for the number “The Race through the Desert” (1084/1)

Figure 4.6 L
 ibrary of Congress, Bernstein Collection, Folder 1047/11, Candide, “Bon
Voyage,” Holographic piano-vocal score, p. 8, detail.
 The orchestration of West Side Story 95
survives from those efforts in which Bernstein included numerous percussion
cues. Instrumental indications are fairly common in the short scores for Mass
(1971), as may be seen for example in manuscripts for “XIV Sanctus” (1084/9)
and “Solo Scene: ‘Things Get Broken’” (1084/10). While working on his score
for the failed musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Bernstein often appears to
have been thinking about orchestration while working through his piano/vocal
scores, perhaps a refinement of his process from the 1950s. There are 13 numbers
in piano/vocal or short score form in the manuscripts from this show that include
some indication of instrumentation or orchestral effects. (More such manuscripts
like these appear from 1600 in the Sid Ramin Papers at the Columbia University
Archive.) “The mark of a man: The Monroviad” (1042/26) includes the indica-
tion “Double melody” on p. 2 and a notated trumpet solo added with the two
vocal lines and piano part. (In a sketch [1043/7] of the same number, Bernstein
wrote “Tpt solo?” in the analogous passage, demonstrating that he considered the
possibility while sketching and then wrote the part he was considering at the later
stage.) “Prelude to Act I; Middle C” (1043/14) is an Ozalid copy of the original
manuscript that includes many instrumental indications for the orchestrators. A
piano/vocal manuscript of “Ten square miles…/If I was a dove” (1044/4) pre-
sents numerous suggestions of percussion parts, such as “TRIANGLE” written
on p. 6. “Uncle Tom’s funeral (bright and black)” (1044/8) is one of the show’s
numbers that shows the influence of minstrelsy, and on p. 3 when Bernstein
calls for a banjo. The short score to Halil: Nocturne (1084/4), a concert work
for solo flute and orchestra finished in 1981, demonstrates how extensively
Bernstein might provide instrumental indications in a concert work at that stage
of composition.

Orchestrations
Once Bernstein had the piano/vocal version or short score ready, it was time to
consult with the orchestrators, engaging in the “pre-orchestration” and “post-
orchestration” meetings that Ramin described. The indications that Bernstein
wrote in piano/vocal score and short scores, documented above, would consti-
tute some of the available evidence of the instructions that the composer perhaps
imparted in the first of those meetings for each number. From the “post-orches-
tration” meetings one hopes to see draft scores, or partiturs, prepared by Ramin
and Kostal, that include emendations in Bernstein’s hand, and there is evidence
of this in the Sid Ramin Papers at the Columbia University Archive, also includ-
ing written indications from Ramin and Kostal. Ramin donated orchestrational
materials to Columbia in 1968–69 from several of his major projects: the stage
musicals Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, I Can Get It
for You Wholesale, and West Side Story; and the film scores Around the World in
80 Days, Stiletto, and West Side Story. The “Finding Aid” describes the “Scores
for the Broadway Production” of West Side Story.65 The first set is arranged in five
volumes in Flat Box 266, listed below with information from the “Finding Aid”
(some titles altered after confirming the content with the manuscripts) concerning
96 The orchestration of West Side Story
the number of pages that include notations from the composer, and also from
Ramin and Kostal.

Volume 1: “The Prologue,” “Cool,” and “The Rumble” – 123 pages with 12 pages
including manuscript notes, revisions, and additions from Bernstein and 73
pages with such indications from Ramin and Kostal
Volume 2: “Jet Song,” “New Intro to Ballet Sequence,”66 “Ballet Sequence,”
“Insert Ballet Sequence,” “New End Ballet Sequence,” “A Boy Like That/I
Have a Love,”67 “Taunting Scene,” and “Finale” – 146 pages with 55 pages
including manuscript notes, revisions, and additions from Bernstein and 66
pages with such indications from Ramin and Kostal
Volume 3: “The Temporary Overture,”68 “Something’s Coming Utility,” “Dance
Hall Sequence,”69 “Maria Cha Cha,” “Meeting Scene,” and “Meeting Scene
A” – 127 pages with 10 pages including notes, revisions, and additions from
Bernstein and 64 pages with such indications from Ramin and Kostal
Volume 4: “Quintet – Act I, Scene 6,” “I Feel Pretty,” and “Gee, Officer Krupke”
– 115 pages with 9 pages including notes, revisions, and additions from
Bernstein and 18 pages with such indications from Ramin and Kostal
Volume 5: “Maria,” “New Balcony Scene,” “America,” and “One” – 139 pages
with 9 pages including notes, revisions, and additions from Bernstein and 49
pages with such indications from Ramin and Kostal

The only major number missing in these five volumes of scores is “Something’s
Coming,” the last song completed for the show, written in early August when the
company was in rehearsal in Washington, DC, before opening at the National
Theater. Volume 3, however, includes four pages of score for the “Something’s
Coming Utility,” to be played after the song, meaning that these scores were still
being worked with at the time that the song was written. The orchestration for that
number, marked “Something’s Coming (New),” along with other numbers exists
in three other Flat Boxes of materials (701 to 703). The inventory of West Side
Story materials in these three folders is as follows:

701: “Prologue” (66 pp., with corrections and additions by Bernstein, Ramin, and
Kostal), “Prologue” (66 pp.)
702: “Overture” (3 pp.), “Jet Song” (36 pp), “Something’s Coming (New)” (20
pp.), “Something’s Coming-Chase” (4 pp.), “Dance Hall Sequence” (51 pp.),
“Maria Cha-Cha” (15 pp.), “Maria” (14 pp.), “New Balcony Scene” (42 pp.),
“A-me-ri-ca” (56 pp., with corrections and additions by Bernstein, Ramin,
and Kostal), “A-me-ri-ca” (56 pp., dated “July 27”), “Cool” (42 pp.), “Cha-
Cha Insert (Intro to One)” (3 pp.), “One [Hand, One Heart]” (29 pp.)
703: “Quintet” (37 pp.) “Rumble” (two versions, each 36 pp., the first with correc-
tions and additions by Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal), “I Feel Pretty” (32 pp.),
“Intro to Ballet)” (7 pp.), “Ballet Sequence” (52 pp.), “Bridge to Somewhere”
(1 p.), “Gee, Officer Krupke!” (31 pp.), “After Krupke – continued” (2 pp.),
“Taunting Scene” (11 pp.), and “Finale” (7 pp.)
 The orchestration of West Side Story 97
As will be described below, these collections of scores seem to represent various
stages in the process. Each major number in the show appears in some version in
these three boxes (701 to 703) except “A Boy Like That/I Have a Love.” As stated
in the “Finding Aid,” this set of sources has especially interesting written indica-
tions from Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal in the first version of the “Prologue” in
701, the first version of “A-me-ri-ca” in 702, and the first version of the “Rumble”
in 703.
Among other materials related to West Side Story in the Ramin Papers are
scores for a recording called “The Sound of West Side Story” made by the Ramin-
Kostal Orchestra about 1957, the scores for each musical segment of the motion
picture, what became the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, the “Music
Breakdown Sheets” for the film, and other miscellaneous scores such as seven
piano/vocal scores of various numbers.70 Piano/vocal scores would have been the
sources from which Ramin and Kostal prepared their orchestrations, but there is
little evidence that any of these were actually used for that purpose. It is more
likely that the holographic piano/vocal scores in the Library of Congress were
sources that they used to produce the orchestral partiturs.
It would be satisfying to be able to assemble a timeline of each song from
West Side Story, combining sketches and piano/vocal scores at the Library of
Congress Music Division with orchestrations in various stages at Columbia,
and then describe with certainty how a particular number changed over time. As
is the case with such materials from many shows, however, not enough of the
musical manuscripts related to West Side Story bear dates to know precisely the
chronology of how a song developed, and changes do not necessarily occur in
a linear fashion. Writers, for example, sometimes go back to an earlier stage of
a number that had been previously rejected. Also, some changes are discussed
verbally, meaning that an alteration will appear in another manuscript, but there is
no way of knowing when that change was made. (This would have been the case
in numerous meetings concerning orchestrations.) Indeed, comparing the drafts
of orchestrations identified above with the show’s published orchestral score
usually demonstrates that numerous changes were made after the draft had been
completed. Music manuscripts, however, are especially valuable to see lyrics and
musical material that were rejected or moved to another number. Some such cases
are identified in this study, and Nigel Simeone describes a number of such situa-
tions in his book on the show.71
A short description of what the manuscripts tell us about the work of Ramin
and Kostal is in order. As Steven Suskin has shown, except for Bernstein’s notes
and additions, Ramin and Kostal wrote out all of the orchestrations, sometimes
with both of them working on the same number.72 Beginning with how they wrote
their names, which seem to appear in the hands of each, for example, at the top of
the “Jet Song” in Volume 2, we note that Ramin wrote in distinctive block capital
letters, but Kostal inconsistently used upper- and lower-case letters. From there,
one can determine which man wrote out the instrumentation on a page, and then
study the differences in how each man wrote out music. Their musical notations
are different, with perhaps the most distinctive contrast being the careful way
98 The orchestration of West Side Story
that Kostal tends to connect his stems and beams as opposed to Ramin’s more
haphazard renderings. Suskin has tried to identify what parts of each manuscript
that Ramin and Kostal wrote. His identifications of their hands seem accurate, but
there are places where it is difficult to be certain. In the “New Balcony Scene”
from Volume 5, for example, Suskin says that Kostal wrote out the partitur, but
it bears the designation “Twins” on the first page, a jocular way that the two men
(“Irv” and “Sid”) referred to themselves in the sources, and it tends to appear
in manuscripts where both men worked. This number includes indications that
seem to be written in Ramin’s block upper case, especially the “MOLTO MENO
MOSSO” that appears on page 32, and there are other examples as well. “Cool,”
from Volume 1, is an excellent example of their collaboration on one number:
Ramin wrote pages 1–11, Kostal picked it up with the fugue on page 12 and wrote
until page 30, Ramin did pages 31–33, Kostal pages 34–35, and Ramin did pages
36–42.73 Suskin states that the flute solo added in green pencil on pages 39–40 was
probably added by Kostal, and this appears to be correct. There are numbers that
one man appears to have done by himself. Suskin, for example, notes that Kostal
prepared “One Hand, One Heart” (among five other songs on which he was the
principal copyist) and Ramin did “I Feel Pretty,” judgments that seem correct.
Suskin has also stated that in total Kostal probably did considerably more of the
actual writing on the project than did Ramin,74 who admitted that he worked more
slowly than his partner for West Side Story, or Robert Ginzler, with whom he
orchestrated Gypsy.
There is rich evidence in the Sid Ramin Papers that Bernstein was a strong
presence in the written orchestrations of West Side Story. As reported in the online
“Finding Aid,” he wrote something on 95 pages of the 650 pages of orchestration
in those 5 volumes; it is admittedly sometimes hard to know which man wrote
which marking.75 Some might have expected Bernstein’s rate of participation to
be higher than about one-seventh of the pages prepared by Ramin and Kostal, but
his assistants in the process wrote on far more of the pages, presumably under
Bernstein’s supervision. The evidence would seem to indicate that these partiturs,
at least for some of the numbers, did not constitute the first drafts. It would be
simple if the scores in Volumes 1–5 were all drafts and everything in Flat Boxes
701 to 703 were final copies, but we don’t have two copies of each number and,
even if we did, we probably could not establish such a chronology with certainty.
Some of the scores in Flat Boxes 701 to 703, such as “I Feel Pretty,” “Gee, Officer
Krupke,” and “Taunting Scene” in 703, are mechanical copies of scores for these
numbers in Volumes 1–5. A study of one representative number demonstrates the
nature of Bernstein’s participation in the process. The version of “America” in
Volume 5 appears to be an earlier draft than the first one found in Flat Box 702
because the changes that the composer ordered in the former source mostly appear
in the latter score, which also is closer to what one hears on the 1957 original cast
album (hereafter “1957 OCR”), but it is difficult to be fully certain of this chronol-
ogy. It should be noted that there are differences between the score in Flat Box
702, as mostly realized on the 1957 recording, and the published orchestral score
of West Side Story from 1994, a reminder of how variable orchestrations can be
 The orchestration of West Side Story 99
between versions of a show. Both the Volume 5 and Flat Box 702 sources demon-
strate what apparently transpired in the “post-orchestration” meetings described
by Ramin and Kostal, probably showing that for some musical numbers there
were more than two meetings concerning orchestration.
Bernstein wrote much of the music that became “America” in 1940 or 1941
when he vacationed in Key West. He traveled there by train in August 1941 to
get away from Jacqueline Speyer, a woman that he had been seeing that summer
at Tanglewood.76 He entitled the putative ballet Conch Town, a reference to the
area he was visiting. The score exists in a sketch for two pianos in the Bernstein
Collection of the Library of Congress (1050/14). He abandoned the ballet project,
but Bernstein often found places for unused music. Segments from Conch Town
became “America” and the Third Sailor’s “Danzon” [sic] in Fancy Free. The
opening of “America” in Volume 5 is scored for three flutes, bass clarinet (Reeds
1–4 change instruments during the number), bassoon, two horns, three trumpets,
two trombones, two percussionists playing claves and güiro (with later changes),
Spanish guitar (with the power off if played on an electric guitar), celesta (later
piano), two violin parts, two cello parts, and string bass. The scoring is the same
in the version in Flat Box 702, and it is also what one observes in the 1994 orches-
tral score. There is another score of “America” with few notes on it by Bernstein,
Ramin, or Kostal that also survives in Flat Box 702. On the first page, probably
in Kostal’s hand, appears another possible instrumentation for the number (not
the orchestration that appears in this manuscript, which resembles that named
above in the Volume 5 version of “America”), dated 27 July. It includes (with
abbreviations realized): 3 flutes/piccolos, E-flat clarinet, 2 B-flat clarinets, 1 bass
clarinet, 1 bassoon, 1 bass saxophone, 4 horns, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones (third on
bass trombone), 4 percussionists (playing claves, güiro, marimba, maracas, and
timpani, the last 2 bracketed indicating that the timpani was played with maracas),
1 harp, piano/celesta, 1 guitar, 2 basses, 12 violins, and 6 cellos. Given the large
number of brass instruments (the show only includes two horns, three trumpets,
and two trombones), this perhaps indicates that the three orchestrators had not
conclusively decided the show’s pit instrumentation even by 27 July. It is also
possible that this instrumentation was part of a discussion for a later project, like
the film or the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.

“A-me-ri-ca” as a case study

“A-me-ri-ca” partitur in Volume 5: An earlier draft?
Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal made changes on at least 30 pages of the draft
entitled “A-me-ri-ca” from Volume 5, mostly in red and green pencil.77 The com-
poser usually used green pencils for the addition and deletion of instrumental
parts and red pencils for the addition or changing of notes and rests. Many of the
pages seem surprisingly blank, with wavy lines going down the score within a
measure and numbers indicating that instruments repeat material from previous
measures on other pages. Wavy lines proceeding horizontally through staves
100 The orchestration of West Side Story
with another instrument named indicate a doubling, such as when all violin parts
double the firsts. When making a change, they tended to write a note at the
top of a page naming the part that has been altered and then amended that part
as needed. In terms of correcting things that were miscopied, Bernstein made
numerous discoveries, and they marked such things as correcting the charac-
ter’s name from Rosalie to Rosalia on page 2; deleting incorrect key signatures
on two lines on page 13 (most of the number has no sharps or flats); fixing an
accidental in flute 1 on page 14; correcting guitar chords on pages 11 and 16;
adding the designations “arco” and lines for glissandi missing in violin parts on
page 20 following a pizzicato section; and correcting eighth-note beams in flute
1 and trumpet 1 parts where Ramin had notated the measure in 3/4 rather than
6/8. Bernstein also attended to a matter of form, recommending that measures
3–4 be played four times; in the 1994 orchestral score this becomes an ad libitum
vamp for dialog.
They added a number of musical gestures in various instruments, most of
which appear in the published score. A compelling detail added to the orchestra-
tion in this draft (perhaps by Bernstein) occurs in trombone 1, a long note to be
played with cup mute that starts on the third beats in measures 57 and 79. This is
where the Shark girls sing the final syllable of “America” at the end of the short
refrain that opens the song’s huapango segment. This sounds in analogous places
later in the song, such as at measure 101, a page with wavy lines where the copy-
ist simply refers back to measure 79. Bernstein clearly wanted a strong accent
on “-ca” at the end of the refrain, adding the trombone entrance to similar ideas
sounding in several instruments. In another example of editing, Bernstein made
numerous markings in the brass towards the end in measures 211–13 and 219–21
(probably written by Ramin in the trumpets and horns and Bernstein in the trom-
bone), as may be seen, for example, in Figure 4.7. In m. 2 (of 4.7), red markings
in the horn parts indicate that material written for horn 1 on the first two beats
moves to trumpet 3 while the third beat remains unchanged. In the same measure,
Bernstein added three more eighth notes in trumpet 2 where there had been rests
in the second half of the measure and the rests in trumpet 3 are marked “STET.”
Changes in mm. 3–4 on the page include additional eighth notes in trumpet 2,
deletion of the notes in trumpet 3, and adding eighth notes in trombone 1 in m. 3
with “etc. col melody” in m. 4, meaning that trombone 1 doubles the melody. A
comparison of these changes with the Flat Box 702 and 1994 scores, often dif-
fering in several brass parts, demonstrates that brass writing in these measures
remained under discussion for some time.
A number of Bernstein’s changes were added dynamic markings, the most
telling one in measures 29–30 on page 8, where Anita comments about the “hur-
ricanes blowing” in Puerto Rico.78 Bernstein added (perhaps in his hand) a cre-
scendo in horns and strings in measure 29 followed by a decrescendo in measure
30, effective word-painting for the text. By the time of the 1994 score, one finds
these markings as well in oboe and trombone 3. In a related development, on page
4, measures 14–15, Bernstein (perhaps in his hand) added that the string glissandi
should be on harmonics, word-painting for Rosalia’s nostalgic mention of her
Figure 4.7 C
 olumbia University Archive, Sid Ramin Papers, Flat Box 266, Volume 5, West Side Story, “A-me-ri-ca,” Partitur, p. 55, mm. 218–21,
detail (changes probably in Ramin’s hand in trumpets and Bernstein’s in trombones).
The orchestration of West Side Story 101
102 The orchestration of West Side Story
island’s “tropical breezes,” the image to which Anita later reacts with her refer-
ence to hurricanes. These designations remain in later scores.
Bernstein spent considerable effort editing percussion parts; it should be
noted that several of the changes remained under discussion in later scores,
including decisions as basic as which instruments should be used. (Bernstein’s
use of percussion was often innovative and compelling. His diligent search for
just the right sound may be appreciated from an instruction written in “The
Rumble” from Volume 1: “Steel Chime Tuned to E With Steel Hammer.”) In the
“A-me-ri-ca” draft, he added güiro (what could easily be in Bernstein’s hand) in
a number of measures, such as towards the end of the opening Tempo di seis at
measure 34; in place of woodblock in measure 43; and at measure 104 (where an
instrumental interlude and dance segment begins), substituting here for timpani
and also added in later measures. In subsequent versions, the use of the güiro
continued to change; for example, in the 1994 score it sounds on the charac-
teristic alternating huapango beat continuously until measure 133. In measure
27–28 in the Volume 5 score, Bernstein (perhaps) marked a dynamic of pp on a
cowbell entrance, an entrance he deleted in the later draft, but a metallic percus-
sion instrument sounds softly at that place on the 1957 OCR after Anita mocks
Rosalia (track 6, 0’47”ff). On page 29 in Volume 5, measures 108–09, during the
dance, Bernstein added cowbell and bass drum, probably written by Ramin. One
also sees the cowbell in the later Flat Box 702 score (where Bernstein deleted it
and then restored it with one more beat of notes in m. 109; see Figure 4.8) and
it sounds on the 1957 OCR (2’23”ff). The writing in this change more resem-
bles Kostal’s hand. Despite its delightful effect, however, the instrument fails to
appear in the 1994 score.
On page 29 in the Volume 5 score, Bernstein (probably in his own hand) added
temple blocks in measure 114–15, but changed the part to congas in the next draft,
which are heard on the 1957 OCR (2’30”ff). Temple blocks re-appear in the 1994
score, continuing to measure 117. The composer commented about character in
the Volume 5 score, such as adding the instruction “dryly” to brass parts on page
9, measure 34, and then recommending “col legno” and “salteando” to the violins
at the opening of the huapango (page 12, measure 46), indications that remain in
the Flat Box 702 and 1994 scores. Both of these indications in the Volume 5 score
appear to be in Bernstein’s hand.

“A-me-ri-ca” in Flat Box 702: A later draft?

The Flat Box 702 score is 56 pages in length and includes over 100 entries in the
orchestrators’ hands in green and red pencil. The majority of the changes involve
adding or deleting a part in an instrument, moving an idea to another line, and
rewriting parts with rhythmic alterations and/or adding rests. Examples of such
changes will be considered in more detail below. Other interesting markings that
occur several times include places where Bernstein decided that he needed to
emphasize the time signature in the constant alternation of 3/4 and 6/8, and the
addition of glissandi in timpani, trombone, and trumpet parts.
Figure 4.8 C
 olumbia University Archive, Sid Ramin Papers, Flat Box 702, West Side Story, “A-me-ri-ca,” Partitur, p. 27, mm. 106–09, detail,
probably in Kostal’s hand.
The orchestration of West Side Story 103
104 The orchestration of West Side Story
Bernstein again took particular care in his proofreading of this score’s percus-
sion parts. For example, at the opening he draws his characteristic Latin sound
from claves and güiro, but in the editing session represented in this manuscript, in
places Bernstein moves away from güiro and substitutes maracas. The first edito-
rial indication for maracas is at mm. 33–34 where Kostal wrote, “Beat tymps [sic]
with maracas,” a percussion effect, as noted earlier, that Bernstein first used in
the “Profanation” of Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah. Later, as stated above, the güiro
returns in places. Use of maracas is consistent from that point, but in the draft
the first percussionist switches to using the fingers on the timpani when the sec-
ond verse begins. Bernstein decided not to use timpani and instead wrote in the
maracas. As may be seen in Figure 4.9, on page 18 Bernstein added snare drum
(“S.D.” in grey pencil, probably in his hand) in m. 70 and “Maracas” (in green
pencil, probably written by the composer) in m. 72 instead of timpani and fingers
on snare drum, as written in the partitur as copied. The notation for use of sticks
in m. 71 is also an original indication in the partitur. The notes at the top of the
page (probably in Bernstein’s hand, but not pictured) read “add sn” and “Maracas,
no tymp.”
The maracas continue to sound through the entire verse and into the next,
sometimes with tambourine (added in green pencil) or triangle, with the excep-
tion of the general rest for Anita to ask sarcastically how Rosalia intends to fit
all of her cousins in the Buick she hopes to drive through San Juan (measures
91–92). Such attention to detail in the percussion continues to the end of the
song.
Bernstein made major changes in the orchestration of the dance segment that
follows soon thereafter (page 25, measure 100ff). The original intention had been
a conventional scoring with a trumpet playing the theme, doubled by three wood-
wind players on flutes and piano. In a moment of inspiration, Bernstein, in red
pencil (and probably his own hand), deleted the trumpet part and changed the
three flutes to piccolos, as may be seen in Figure 4.10 (page 26, measure 103),
still doubled by piano (not pictured) but moving the line into a higher octave.
Three piccolos constitute an unusual scoring with inherent tuning problems, but
the composer obviously wanted the tinny sound that the instrument produces in
that range. According to the score, vocalists also whistle the melody.
Such observations could be described using other scores in the collection, but it
is clear from the examples of these two drafts of “America” that Bernstein indeed
actively participated in editing the orchestration of West Side Story and that his
attention to detail included instrumentation, timbre, articulation, special effects,
dynamics, and other aspects. It is exciting to observe this process because the
scores show the iconic sounds of the show’s orchestra emerging, such as seeing
Bernstein’s adding lines for flute (written in staff on the fourth line, probably in
his hand) and vibraphone (“vibes” clearly named in the faint note scrawled by
Bernstein above the vocal line) in “Cool,” two instruments that make possible the
musical pun of hearing an imitation of cool jazz in that number (see Figure 4.11).
A study of the action of orchestrating West Side Story is every bit as signifi-
cant as the photographs of Robbins working with the cast on dances or Bernstein
Figure 4.9 C
 olumbia University Archive, Sid Ramin Papers, Flat Box 702, West Side Story, “A-me-ri-ca,” Partitur, p. 18, mm. 70–73, detail, probably
in Bernstein’s hand.
The orchestration of West Side Story 105
 106
The orchestration of West Side Story

Figure 4.10 C
 olumbia University Archive, Sid Ramin Papers, Flat Box 702, West Side Story, “A-me-ri-ca,” Partitur, p. 26, mm. 102–05, detail,
probably in Bernstein’s hand.
 The orchestration of West Side Story 107

Figure 4.11 C
 olumbia University Archive, Sid Ramin Papers, Flat Box 266, Volume 1,
West Side Story, “Cool,” Partitur, p. 1, mm. 1–4, detail, “vibes” in Bernstein’s
hand and flute line probably in his hand.

teaching them the music, and this comes alive below as we describe how the
orchestration adds to the characterization and dramatic impact.

Miscellany from orchestral scores

The scores in Volumes 1–5 and Flat Boxes 701–703 are practical documents that
bear significant musical meaning, but there are also moments when the process’s
human element jumps off the page in the form of comments or ways that the
Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal referred to themselves. That Ramin and Kostal
108 The orchestration of West Side Story
occasionally called themselves “The Twins/Irv + Sid” already has been noted,
but there were also several places where one just sees “Irv + Sid” written at the
top of a number. On page 1 of the “New Balcony Scene” in Volume 5, Bernstein
seemed to make sure that he was not forgotten, adding “+ LB” and circling it. On
the verso of the final page of “I Feel Pretty” in Volume 4, Bernstein wrote “Ich
fühle mich hübsch,” the number’s title in German. At the top of the first manu-
script of “The Rumble” in Flat Box 702, somebody (perhaps Ramin) wrote “(als
Anfang innigsten Glückwünsche) For Leonard Bernstein,” meaning “at the outset
heartfelt wishes for luck,” not unlike telegrams that Broadway personalities often
sent to each other on opening nights.79
Other references in the scores reveal aspects of the orchestrational process.
Across the top of page 1 of the “Jet Song” from Volume 2 someone wrote, “(15
Aug, Goberman Score Corrected to Match This Score).” Max Goberman was
the show’s musical director and he also would have had a set of the developing
orchestral partiturs in which changes would have been entered. On the same page,
Kostal wrote “Arnie – Fix Drums, Guitar, Bass – Piano – Irv.” On a page of the
“Temporary Overture” from Volume 3 there is another note to “Arnold” about
what should be copied, clear references to one of the copyists working on the
parts from these scores. On page 32 of the “New Balcony Scene” in Volume 5, a
note reads that the following material should be “Down ½ tone,” a reminder that
Broadway material is regularly transposed during the rehearsal process to make it
easier for a singer. Concern for the volume of the electric guitar emerges on page
10A of the “Meeting Scene” in Volume 3, where one reads “Guitar amp ¼.” One
would always like to see more dates in such sources, but there are several to be
found in the manuscripts ranging from 27 July to 2–3 September, along with some
mentions just of the month of September. Statements by those involved make it
sound like most of the orchestration was done in July and August, but clearly
work continued into at least early September when West Side Story played out-of-
town in Washington and Philadelphia.

The effect of orchestration: Characterization

and dramatic impact
For many listeners, musical instruments become associated with various moods
and entities. A flute, for example, can easily be made to sound like a bird, is effec-
tive for expressing gaiety or giddiness with fast notes in a high register, and pro-
jects introspection and even sadness with slower notes in a low register. These
associations result from the flute’s characteristic sound, but are reinforced by
how the instrument has been used by previous composers and arrangers. Sergei
Prokofiev reinforces the flute’s association with a bird in Peter and the Wolf by
writing flighty lines to describe that character. Examples of fast, joyous writing for
the instrument are ubiquitous. The flute solo in the fourth movement of Ludwig van
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica is an obvious example, but Maurice Ravel
achieves the opposite effect with the low, plaintive solo flute lines in the opening
of his Mother Goose Suite in the “Pavane of Sleeping Beauty.” Those engaging
 The orchestration of West Side Story 109
in orchestration will even use an instrument’s weakness for effect, such as Claude
Debussy at the opening of his Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, where the first
note, c#”, is the instrument’s open note, by nature fuzzy and diffuse, an appropri-
ate timbre to match the affect with which Debussy begins the piece. It is such
intimate knowledge of instruments and how they combine that makes for effective
orchestration, a process that becomes highly complicated as instruments are com-
bined and alternated. One might consider, for example, when the opening flute solo
returns in Debussy’s Faun 11 measures before the work’s conclusion, this time
doubled by solo cello an octave lower, a subtle but elegant difference. A fine exam-
ple of alternation of contrasting orchestral sounds occurs in Ravel’s orchestration
of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, the movement entitled “Samuel
Goldenberg and Schmuyle,” a spirited discussion between the nervous Goldenberg
and the slow, imposing Schmuyle, represented evocatively by solo trumpet versus
lower strings and woodwinds. Ravel’s version of Mussorgsky’s suite is considered
a masterful orchestration, and in this movement, he achieves a striking effect.
As shown in the previous section, Bernstein provided detailed instructions as
they orchestrated numbers from West Side Story while Ramin and Kostal wrote
out the arrangements and added their own ideas as they worked, suggestions
that Bernstein was free to accept or reject. The team had decided upon which
instruments they would use and how many of each—detailed above—and now
they were free to use them in any possible solo or ensemble capacity to make
the show’s soundscapes rich and varied. Their choices would be governed to an
extent by the style of a number, two obvious examples being “Cool,” where they
reveled in the sounds of cool jazz, and the “Mambo,” an evocation of a Latin big
band. Beyond obvious stylistic choices, however, Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal
relied on their knowledge of instruments and how their sounds combine to render
a number effectively, both musically and dramatically, a process that involved
several considerations: accompanying the singer(s) in a manner that does not
obscure vocal sound or text; providing instrumental sounds that generally com-
plement the song and specifically various words or ideas in the text; seeking a
reasonable balance of expected Broadway orchestration for various types of songs
and appropriate moments of imaginative timbres; and taking into account how
the orchestration might contribute to characterization and overall dramatic effect.
The following description of the orchestration of West Side Story will concentrate
on its contribution to these latter concerns with examples cited by track and time
index on one of three recordings: the 1957 OCR, the Broadway revival recording
from 2009 (“2009 OCR”), and Bernstein’s 1984 studio recording (“1984 SR”).80
The instrumentation as it is identified in the following descriptions of numbers in
the show has been based upon the 1994 published score, but there are subtle dif-
ferences between it and the three recordings named above.

“Prologue”
In some numbers, describing orchestration is more about the overall approach with
few individual effects that might be related to a certain phrase of text. Certainly,
110 The orchestration of West Side Story
this is the case with the “Prologue,” which in its final form emerged as a dance/
pantomime showing the Puerto Ricans moving into the neighborhood, the forma-
tion of the Sharks, and their growing confrontation with the Jets. The soundscape
here mostly describes the Jets based on various jazz tropes. West Side Story takes
place in an urban landscape, a place that Bernstein approached in three of his
compositional projects in the 1950s, the others being the musical Wonderful Town
(1952) and the film score to On the Waterfront (1954), the latter which resembles
some of the music of West Side Story.81 Various types of jazz were associated
with urban America in the 1950s, especially bop and cool, and these tend to be
the basis for Bernstein’s sonic approach to the Jets as the “American” gang. As
Katherine Baber has noted,

Drawing on the association that new jazz styles, particularly bebop, had
accrued as a music of youthful delinquency or rebellion, and more generally
as a music of opposition and protest, Bernstein uses modern jazz as a way of
articulating conflict, defiance, and protest among the two gangs.82

Various types of Latin music describe the Sharks, and there are few Latin tropes
to be heard in the “Prologue,” except, as Baber has pointed out, the pitched drums
(toms) used in the same fashion appear in Max Roach’s playing in the 1951
recording “Un Poco Loco.”83 The number’s harmonic basis is major/minor triads,
an approximation of blues with conflicting, dissonant thirds. The distinctive rising
motive with a perfect fourth followed by a tritone (which at one point during the
show’s development carried a lyric84) and its three-note, conjunct answer open
track 1 of the 1957 OCR; these two motives do not start the “Prologue” in the
stage version. (Simeone, following Jack Gottlieb’s lead, has termed the ascending
fourth followed by a tritone a “shofar call,” a motive based on the typical call of
this Jewish service instrument that appears in other works by Bernstein.85) From
0’07” to 0’43” the Jets are in their element, dominating the neighborhood, moving
confidently and snapping their fingers, jazz-like on off-beats. Their most promi-
nent accompaniment includes trombone and muted trumpets; solo alto saxophone
with a wide, jazzy vibrato and vibraphone in unison on a melody later associated
with the “Jet Song” (0’17”), answered by muted trumpets, trombone, and bas-
soon; and a final layer of clarinets, flute, and then violins on a contrasting line
with the same rhythmic profile. At 0’43”, one of the Jets scoffs at Bernardo, a
new arrival to the neighborhood, setting up the next section that chronicles the
Jets harassing the Sharks. The orchestration in this second section depicts the
“American” gang’s confidence as they harass the first Puerto Ricans, the most
prominent motives being the “shofar call” in a variety of instruments and material
later heard in the “Jet Song,” with an extension in syncopated duplets in violins
and high woodwinds against the prevailing 6/8 meter. A menacing addition on
several occasions comes in the four pitched drums, often sounding in relative iso-
lation, warning of the growing conflict. At 1’48” one hears three offerings of the
ascending fourth in various brass instruments, finally drawing the entire orchestra
into a massive, unison statement of the “shofar call” and its three-note answer at
 The orchestration of West Side Story 111
1’55” while the piano adds a rapid scale, glissandi occur throughout the wood-
winds and strings, and the pitched drums continue to sound.
From this point the “Prologue” becomes more energetic as the gangs enter
into perpetual confrontation, culminating in the Sharks grabbing A-Rab, beating
him, and Bernardo piercing his ear. The meter changes to 2/4 at 1’55”. The new
segment builds over a savage walking bass in piano, cellos, and string bass with
constant eighths from the trap set starting at 2’13”, later joined by bass clarinet.
After a brief hiatus at 2’35”, the bass eighth notes resume in slurred, repeated
duplets each rising a half-step, at first sounding in bass clarinet, bass saxophone,
bassoon, cellos, and bass, also soon interrupted, but both of these bass lines return
during the segment, providing some grounding in the midst of general unpredict-
ability. The jazz derivation and soundscape of the Jets remain clear, but chaos has
ensued; that gang is losing its dominance. Bernstein’s music and the orchestration
here turn towards what one hears later in “The Rumble.” The texture increases
in density, but the instrumentation is built upon what we heard in the first two
segments of the “Prologue.” The pitched drums are louder and more sinister, the
brass becomes very heavy, and versions of the “shofar call” and its three-note
answer sound from several different solo instruments and combinations. A rapid,
descending fanfare figure that ends with the show’s iconic tritone sounds at 2’36
in piccolo, E-flat clarinet, trumpet 1 and 2, pitched drums, and piano and begins
to be developed, followed soon thereafter by an ascending major arpeggio heard
in xylophone and piano at 2’57”, two more ideas thrown into the confusion as
the gangs fight. After a grand pause, at 3’14” a major build-up of excitement
begins in the low woodwinds and strings as the Sharks catch A-Rab with almost
every instrument in octaves on a syncopated rhythm that has been heard many
times; Bernardo pierces A-Rab’s ear at 3’25” during a raucous half note with
the winds executing violent flutter-tongues and the strings tremolo. A free-for-
all then begins with appropriate orchestral accompaniment until the concluding
police whistle at 3’41”.

“Jet Song”
The “Jet Song” includes motives from the “Prologue” and resides in the gang’s
jazzy soundscape. That it shares track 1 with the “Prologue” on the 1957 OCR
makes it sound like a continuation of the “Prologue,” but the “Jet Song” follows
several pages of action and dialogue. Much of the song’s vocal line is in a plain
triple meter, especially early in the number, but Bernstein consistently compli-
cates the “Jet Song” with strong syncopation and 6/8 motion in the bass line. As
is the case in many vocal numbers, the most notable moments for the instruments
are fill-ins and interludes. The introduction establishes the 6/8 accompaniment in
two clarinets, bass clarinet, trap set, and strings, with complicating syncopation in
electric guitar and piano, a subtle big band sound with added strings. Riff enters,
doubled by bassoon, his pauses briefly punctuated by brass and other instruments.
At 4’20”ff fill-ins by clarinets, trumpets, trombones, and piano become more
important, adding considerable energy by filling in the rests in the vocal line,
112 The orchestration of West Side Story
on the last, long statement of the gang’s name with the motive that forms the
vocal melody in the tune’s B section (also prominent in the “Prologue”) played
by B-flat clarinet, alto saxophone, electric guitar, and violins. The underscoring
that ensues (4’28”ff) includes the same motive in the violins with syncopated,
chordal entrances in the brass, also material familiar from the “Prologue.” A dis-
tinctive entrance of the B section motive occurs in alto saxophone, vibraphone,
and electric guitar at 4’46”, the first time the electric guitar sounds prominently
in the track. Riff tells his gangs to come to the dance spiffed up and then leaves,
followed by a contrasting segment often cut from the song and not heard on the
1957 or 2009 OCRs (but it is on the 1984 SR, 1/2, 1’29”ff), based on material
that returns in the “Blues” of the “Dance at the Gym.”86 As the Jets sing the sec-
ond verse of the “Jet Song,” the orchestration is similar to the first verse, if a bit
louder, but a change takes place at 5’15” (1957 OCR): the meter switches to 2/4,
the vocal line moves from straight quarter notes to a tresillo rhythm, and there is
a new orchestration with a driving bass line in the piano, cellos, and bass (later
woodwinds at times), additional participation from the trap set, and pizzicato in
the violins. These features disappear at the B section (5’28”), returning with a
vengeance with the return of the A section (5’37”, without the pizzicato), leading
to the brass in full, jazzy flower as the singers intone their last note.

“Something’s Coming”
Riff goes to convince Tony to join his old gang at the dance that night, a scene that
ends with Tony singing “Something’s Coming.” The song’s orchestration seems
to confirm his status as a member of the Jets with sounds reminiscent of a big band
accompanying a ballad, but also with participation by the strings. The reeds have
put down their saxophones and the opening ostinato emanates from three B-flat
clarinets and bass clarinet, with string pizzicato. A held chord in all three muted
trumpets emphasizes the word “shows” (1957 OCR, track 2, 0’19”), setting up
brass stingers that emphasize the accents in the next phrase. That orchestral treat-
ment repeats for the next trip through the A section. As Tony hits his e’ at 0’43”,
half-notes in the clarinets (joined by bassoon) signal the song’s new section. The
nervous ostinato stops and Tony is more confident. This section foreshadows the
soundscape associated with the lovers. A sense of motion is assisted with a trap
set entrance that, if louder, would remind one of a train’s motion. As Tony’s
descriptions of the possibilities become more specific, referring to a phone call
or someone at the door, the orchestration is more expansive. Bernstein underlines
the meaning of some words with the accompaniment, first on the phrase starting
“Around the corner” at 1’18”ff, where bassoon, first and seventh violins, and third
and fourth cellos double the vocal line amidst other long notes that provide har-
mony, giving the text a bit of a halo. Little new happens in the song’s orchestra-
tion until 1’56”, where Bernstein provides literal word-painting for “humming” as
tremolo in the first four violin parts and harmonics in the other three help bring the
image alive. The opening ostinato and its instrumentation jump back in at 2’04”
(the strings just a bit later), and the number ends as it started.
 The orchestration of West Side Story 113
“Dance at the Gym”
The scene at the bridal shop, where we meet Maria and Anita, follows immedi-
ately. At its end, the excited Maria begins to whirl as the “Dance at the Gym”
starts and scenery changes around her. We enter a new soundscape that combines
the Jets’ big band jazz with the Sharks’ Latin music. As several scholars have
stated, Bernstein featured little Puerto Rican music in West Side Story, instead
mostly referencing Afro-Cuban styles, including the popular mambo and cha-cha
that Americans enthusiastically danced in ballrooms at the time.87 While this cer-
tainly opens up the composer for accusations of cultural insensitivity, he resided
in the United States where any style from south of the US/Mexican border, the
Caribbean—or even the Iberian Peninsula—unfortunately can be lumped into the
category we call “Latin.” Whatever failings the “Dance at the Gym” might have
in terms of authenticity or stylistic purity, Bernstein turned his influences into
brilliant music for dancing replete with exciting orchestrations. Simeone effec-
tively contextualizes the scene and how it contributes dramatically to the plot.88
The 1957 OCR includes only the “Mambo” and “Cha-Cha” while the 2009 OCR
includes the “Blues,” “Mambo,” “Cha-Cha,” and “Meeting Scene.” Bernstein’s
1984 SR with Deutsche Grammophon includes each section.
The “Blues” exists within the soundscape of the Jets because, at the scene’s
opening, they dominate the room; Bernardo, Anita, Maria, and Chino have yet to
enter. The music (2009 OCR, track 4, 0’00”) starts with a hint of “Something’s
Coming,” underscores the whirling Maria as the stage transforms, and then
includes ideas reminiscent of the “Prologue” and “Jet Song.” The Puerto Rican
principals arrive and the well-meaning but ineffectual Glad Hand tries to get the
gangs to interact in the Promenade (1984 SR, track 1/5), marked “Tempo di Paso
Doble,” a move towards the Latin explosion in the “Mambo” (1984 SR, track 1/6)
when the youths finally ignore Glad Hand’s efforts and dance competitively with
their chosen partners. Bernstein completely changes the scene’s soundscape with
the “Mambo.” Each group takes over the stage at various moments, but with the
Jets threatened by a soundscape that favors the Sharks. Simeone points out that
the “Mambo” foreshadows the ends of phrases of “A Boy Like That,” Anita’s
song at the end of Act 2 where she tears into Maria.89 Tony arrives at the dance
towards the end of the “Mambo” and Bernstein inserts material related to the song
“Maria.” Tony and Maria meet and the music changes to the gentle “Cha-Cha”
(1984 SR, track 1/7), which presents much of the melody of “Maria” before Tony
sings it in the next scene. The “Meeting Scene” (1984 SR, track 1/8) enters the
soundscape that enfolds the lovers in subsequent numbers. The scene concludes
with a return of the “Paso Doble” (1984 SR, track 1/8, 1’00”) and a jazzy “Jump”
(1984 SR, track 1/9) that fades out at the end of the scene.
The scene with “Dance at the Gym” has dialogue but nothing sung, mean-
ing that, like the “Prologue,” here the orchestration helps to set the mood and
underline what occurs dramatically. The evocative music that opens the “Blues,”
underscoring Maria whirling and the scene change, is somewhat reminiscent of
scores by Claude Debussy, with undulating triplets in the woodwinds, vibraphone,
114 The orchestration of West Side Story
electric guitar, celesta, and strings, plus mysterious touches from suspended cym-
bal and an artificial harmonic in the string bass. At 0’18” (2009 OCR), trumpet 3
announces the opening of the section marked “Rocky.” (Bernstein’s reference to
rock ‘n’ roll in 1957 is interesting, and the tempo approximates the rock style. The
swinging nature of the 12/8 meter, however, is closer to the blues.) The instru-
mentations and timbres emerge straight from the big band, playing into the Jets’
soundscape. Featured here is brass with trumpets and trombones using shakes,
fall offs, and glissandi to strong effect, somewhat reminiscent of the strip music
that Ramin and Ginzler wrote for Gypsy two years later. At 0’40”, the trumpets
move to sinewy eighth notes, joined after two statements by piccolo, flute, E-flat
clarinet, B-flat clarinet, and violins, a change in timbre, but the brass continues to
dominate. These figures play off syncopations in the trombones, electric guitar,
and piano, suggesting the interplay between sections in a big band. At 1’03”,
trumpets and their partners (joined by the piano) add finicky, dissonant grace
notes to their figures, still bouncing off the trombones’ syncopations. At 1’12”,
the brass returns to the material that opened the dance, quickly stated and fol-
lowed by time-keeping in the rhythm section and a few brief entrances until Glad
Hand blows his whistle following the stage entrance of the principal Sharks. The
“Promenade,” accompanying Glad Hand’s unsuccessful meeting dance, is inten-
tionally insipid, scored to sound tinny with melody in the piccolo, E-flat and B-flat
clarinets, trumpet 1, and violins.
The opening of the “Mambo” is one of the most famous moments in Bernstein’s
entire output. The initial entrance of Latin percussion instruments is a visceral,
sonic counterpoint to the young people’s energy. Bernstein’s scoring model was
a Latin big band such as that heard famously ten years before in the joint work
of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and bongo player Chano Pozo that resulted in such
songs as “Manteca,” but in his “Mambo” Bernstein used ensemble effects rather
than the long solos usually heard in a jazz chart. Following the percussion intro-
duction, block scoring defines the texture with violins and cellos mostly sound-
ing with the woodwinds. Exhilarating solos in trombone 1 and D trumpet lead
into a section where woodwinds and brass are marked fff (3’39” on 2009 OCR,
1’24” on 1957 OCR), where the score includes the instruction “Tony and Maria
see each other.”90 From that point one hears statements of the “Maria” motive
in both horns, trumpet 1, and trombones, preparing for the sudden transition to
the “Cha-Cha.” Bernstein’s new orchestral approach could hardly be more con-
trasting, moving from the brass-heavy “Mambo” to three flutes, B-flat clarinet,
bassoon, two trumpets with straight mutes, finger cymbals, harmonics in elec-
tric guitar and first cello, and pizzicato in violins, second and third cellos, and
bass to open the “Cha-Cha” (4’08” on 2009 OCR, 1’47” on 1957 OCR). Bassoon
and B-flat clarinet provide a subtle, moving Latin accompaniment for four meas-
ures as an introduction, given a special sheen with punctuation by finger cymbals
and harmonics. This idea returns for two measures later before the A section of
the melody repeats. The song’s A section and its close harmonization sound on
the same pitches in three flutes, high piano, and violins. Short staccato notes in
the winds and pizzicato in the violins are punctuated deliciously with the cast’s
 The orchestration of West Side Story 115
snapping fingers. As the A section of “Maria” sounds the second time (4’38”,
2’15”), Bernstein layers in maracas, tambourine, and bongos, used subtly, and
changes the melody’s presentation slightly by switching the flute to piccolo. The
B section of “Maria” enters later (4’54”, 2’27”) with a warmer orchestra: no pic-
colo, two trumpets with straight mutes, and bowed violins. The four-measure
segment concludes with oboe unexpectedly carrying the melody for a moment
before a run of tritones and half-steps from the “Maria” melody in vibraphone,
mandolin, and celesta, an exotic transition into the “Meeting Scene.” Dialogue
between Tony and Maria has tender underscoring from high woodwinds, vibra-
phone, and violins, moving toward the sweet soundscape associated with the lov-
ers. The scene continues with lightly and then more heavily scored versions of
the “Promenade,” ending raucously with the addition of both piccolo and E-flat
clarinet. The concluding “Jump,” scored for two B-flat clarinets, trumpet 1, trap
set, piano, and bass, carries the combo sound that the instrumentation implies.

“Maria”
Some associations between instruments and emotions are so well established that
it would have been perverse for Bernstein and his associates to avoid them. Surely
this is the case in “Maria,” where one expects Tony’s budding love for the young
woman to be accompanied primarily by strings. Violins and cellos sound promi-
nently after the opening recitative, but the composer opted for a distinctive open-
ing with bassoon and horns, gradually joined by strings as repetitions of her name
lead the crescendo into what at times sounds like an aria. (On the 1957 OCR,
track 4, this includes off-stage voices in addition to that of Larry Kert; the 2009
OCR, track 5, and productions today, present the song as a solo without off-stage
voices.) As the “Moderato con anima” starts at 0’34” (1957 OCR), Bernstein uses
full strings with support from flute, oboe, two B-flat clarinets, two horns, occa-
sionally three trumpets, timpani, finger cymbals, and suspended cymbal. A bass
line with a tresillo rhythm (perhaps describing Tony’s Hispanic lover) sounds in
bassoon, electric guitar, and string bass. Violins and sometimes cellos and wood-
winds double the voice, a textural choice often heard in operas. At 1’02”, when
Tony intones her name loudly and softly, Bernstein adjusts the orchestra’s volume
accordingly. Full ensemble returns with a louder dynamic in the voice at 1’21”.
The vocal line then becomes a series of statements of the beloved’s name to new
melodic ideas as much of the orchestra plays the song’s main theme in counter-
point, effectively rejoining the voice at 1’45”. Contrasting dynamic effects repeat
with appropriate text and the song ends gently, with chords under the final phrase
of recitative and an effective orchestral silence as Tony sings her name for the last
time, the orchestra joining once again for the conclusion.

“Balcony Scene”
The stage directions for “Maria” include that Tony searches for her while he
sings. At the end she emerges onto the fire escape outside of her window, setting
116 The orchestration of West Side Story
up one of the most familiar scenes in the history of American musical theater.
Indeed, this modern version of Juliet on her balcony, where Tony joins her, carries
a huge dramatic load. This love is not only forbidden but downright dangerous.
Following the tentative “Meeting Scene,” the audience has only two chances to
see them as happy lovers: here and later in the mock wedding scene. The audi-
ence must accept the intensity and purity of their love from these few encounters
in order for West Side Story to function as a dramatic whole: there must also be
real chemistry between the actors and worthwhile musical talents to bring the
songs alive. Bernstein’s approach to what is called the “Balcony Scene” in the
score remains in the soundscape established in “Maria,” dominated by strings
with other instruments added for color. The previous song appears in string under-
scoring during their dialogue. When Maria starts the recitative that opens the song
on the 1957 OCR (track 5), Bernstein establishes the dominant string accompani-
ment with whole notes and, in the third measure, flute and two B-flat clarinets
playing pulsating eighth-note rhythms based on a beguine, the dance type from
Martinique that provides the “Other” quality. (As noted above, Kostal said that
this was his idea, at first resisted by Bernstein.91 Beguine rhythms, however, do
appear in the piano/vocal score that Bernstein would have handed to his helpers.)
The pulsating rhythms disappear when Tony starts to sing at 0’22”, but return
at 0’35”, this time under Tony, and move between various parts until the first
phrase of the chorus begins at 0’54”. At the end of the recitative, when the lov-
ers sing “me” in octaves (0’44”), violins and flute introduce the main theme with
trombones playing the beguine rhythm, joined by trumpets, horns, and finally
other instruments just before Maria enters. She sings the entire chorus on the
1957 OCR, as indicated in the older piano/vocal score; on the 2009 OCR (track
6), Tony takes over for the last two phrases, which is how the number appears in
the orchestral score.92 In the accompaniment of the chorus, the pulsating starts
in the violins and moves around while doubling of the vocal line does not begin
until the B section of the AABA tune (1’22”, 1957 OCR), a moment of operatic
intensification. At the final A in this first statement (1’36”), the doubling ceases.
The song’s most distinctive moment occurs when Maria and Tony sing together,
after they kiss, at the next vocal entrance (1’59”), where the violins, split into four
different parts, each rapidly alternate between two pitches as the lovers sing about
celestial events. As they sing in octaves at 2’34”, they are doubled by flute, B-flat
clarinet, violins, and two cellos, another operatic moment that lasts to the end of
the section. That is also the end of the pulsating eighth notes. Most of the dialogue
that follows is on neither OCR but is heard on the 1984 SR. When Tony sings
while Maria goes inside for a moment, the English horn evocatively doubles him.
From here to the end of the song, the orchestra takes on a Wagnerian role with
motives predicting future action. After Tony finishes singing the first A phrase of
“Tonight,” the bassoon plays the opening of “Somewhere” as Maria reappears,
followed by another solo rendering of the motive by flute. Later, during their final
note, bassoon and cello 1 and 2 play the opening of the song “Somewhere” and
the famous short-long rhythm that sets the title word of that song sounds in oboe,
one B-flat clarinet, bassoon, trumpet 1, and some violins.
 The orchestration of West Side Story 117
“America”
Bernstein based the music of this number on the Puerto Rican seis and the Mexican
huapango. As noted above, he wrote the music as Conch Town in the early 1940s.
The opening carries the designation “Tempo di ‘Seis’,” and the music bears resem-
blance to the Puerto Rican genre, which describes a vocal piece in duple meter
with accompaniment by various guitars of multiple stanzas with eight-syllable
lines, although Sondheim included some lines of nine syllables and Bernstein
complicated the prevailing duple meter with triplets.93 The huapango is a Mexican
dance based on a mixture of 2/4, 3/4, and 6/8 and often includes two males sing-
ing in competition with distinctive use of falsetto.94 As Wells notes, Bernstein
actually combines two, three, and six beats per measure in his seis rather than in
his huapango,95 which is a simple alternation of 3/4 and 6/8. A possible influence
on Bernstein was the orchestral Huapango by José Pablo Moncayo, composed in
1941, which includes the kind of hemiola that one finds in “America.” Bernstein’s
mentor Aaron Copland was certainly aware of what transpired in Mexican music;
Moncayo studied with Copland at Tanglewood in the summer of 1942,96 probably
after Bernstein wrote Conch Town. It is also interesting to note that “America”
opens with two women singing in competition, a feature of the huapango with
male singers, but this is also in the segment of the song that the composer des-
ignated his seis. As is the case with other Latin references in West Side Story,
Bernstein played it a bit fast and loose with his influences.
For the song “America” Bernstein and his associates in orchestration pulled
out all of the stops, making the orchestra another character. The number includes
some of the most specific examples of word-painting heard in the show. With the
addition of Latin percussion instruments, we return to the soundscape associated
with the Sharks, but in the stage version only the Shark women take part in the
number; it is not the competition song between men and women presented in the
1961 film. The opening “Tempo di ‘Seis’” begins in the claves followed by the
güiro, the claves rhythm entering the bass as the güiro’s sextuplets sound in a
flowing, conjunct accompaniment in the Spanish guitar, celesta, and later strings
and woodwinds. Rosalia begins her nostalgic reverie about Puerto Rico with
this evocative accompaniment, her vocal line doubled in places by bassoon and
three flutes. When she cites the “tropical breezes” (1957 OCR, track 6, 0’26”),
the orchestra obliges with rapid, falling lines in three flutes and a glissando in
harmonics from the violins and cellos. When Anita counters with her sarcastic
answer (0’37”), the orchestration turns darker, especially with trumpets 1 and 2
entering on the sextuplet figure along with Spanish guitar, celesta, and later bas-
soon and bass clarinet. Oboe and trombone 1 double Anita’s vocal line, adding to
the bite. Her satirical rhyme for “breezes” is “tropic diseases” (0’45”), heard in the
orchestra with ascending, slurred chromatic lines followed by four repeated stac-
cato notes in two flutes and trumpets 1 and 2, strikes in two suspended cymbals
(in the score, but, as noted above, on the 1957 OCR this might be a cowbell; it
is not suspended cymbals), and a rapid glissando in the celesta, a successful bur-
lesque of the previous orchestral effect in support of Rosalia. Anita begins to list
118 The orchestration of West Side Story
problems on her native island. At 0’56”, there is a sudden change in texture with
staccato eighth notes in a number of instruments, the most interesting sound being
the timpani played with maracas. Long notes in the strings accompany Anita for a
moment towards the end of her recitative, but this new, open texture signals a big
change before the “Tempo di Huapango” starts (1’14”).
For the first four measures, Bernstein sets up what becomes the typical accom-
paniment, with patterns that lay down the constant 6/8 and 3/4 alternation with
bass notes in bassoon, cellos, and bass, and off-beats in horns, guitar, and violins.
The piano plays both patterns and the opening percussion includes timpani played
with maracas on the bass pattern joined by trap set and onstage clapping. When
voices enter at 1’19”, they are doubled by three flutes, timpani drops out, and the
trap set continues with bass drum and fingers on the snare drum. (As the number
progresses, the large percussion presence that Bernstein wanted becomes clear,
with gradual entrances in various places by maracas played independently of the
timpani, triangle, tambourine, güiro, cowbells, bongos, xylophone, glockenspiel,
and castanets. As shown above, percussion choices changed between versions.)
There are numerous subtle changes in orchestration as the number progresses;
detailed description here will be limited to major changes in the music that con-
tribute to characterization and dramatic impact. In the debate between Rosalia
and Anita, the orchestra favors the latter, laughing at Rosalia following Anita’s
zingers. After Anita tells her friends that Rosalia should board a boat to return to
San Juan (1’37”), upper woodwinds play a two-note, accented figure in thirds fol-
lowed a beat later by horns and muted trumpet 1 and 2, a subdued gesture when
compared with the later, uproarious laughter in staccato eighth notes in two flutes,
B-flat clarinet, bassoon, all of the brass, trap set, and piano (1’42”). There is also
a distinction between which instruments accompany the two women: Rosalia is
doubled by one flute with another in duet while Anita’s line sounds with two
clarinets taking their place. All of these gestures repeat when Rosalia and Anita
resume their debate at 1’57”. Following another entrance by Anita and her chorus
of naysayers, the number’s first dance break commences at 2’19”. The melody
sounds in three piccolos (on the 1957 OCR, marked two flutes and one piccolo
in the 1994 score), trumpet, piano, and the women on stage whistling. At 2’43”,
the melody emanates from all sections in a large tutti, setting the stage for further
confrontation, followed by another chorus. The next, similar dance break starts
at 3’20”. The orchestration is predictable as Rosalia and Anita exchange their
final barbs until the laughter motive peters out in an ascending arpeggio at 4’08”,
preparing the final taunts, softer, but again featuring three piccolos as Anita and
her friends clap and make animal sounds at Rosalia. The final tutti enters at 4’18”,
notably tinny in timbre with numerous treble instruments playing the melody.

“Cool”
What follows “America” is another number where the orchestration plays a crucial
role. “Cool,” sung and danced by the Jets and their girlfriends at Doc’s drugstore,
re-enters that gang’s jazzy soundscape, but with a twist. As they seek relative
 The orchestration of West Side Story 119
tranquility until their rumble with the Sharks, Bernstein introduces a musical pun,
accessing timbres and tropes of cool jazz in his orchestration. The style’s famous
genesis came in 1949 with the album Birth of the Cool, with Miles Davis as leader
and Gil Evans the arranger. The nonet included some unusual instruments for
jazz—including French horn and tuba—and musicians avoided the aggressive
sound of bop, played lightly and emphasizing subtle nuances. Another jazz group
central in the cultivation of cool jazz was the Modern Jazz Quartet, where vibra-
phonist Milt Jackson made his instrument one of the style’s representative tim-
bres. By the time that Bernstein, Ramin, and Kostal were orchestrating West Side
Story in 1957, cool jazz would have been difficult to ignore as they approached
this song. Misha Berson has also pointed out the song’s resemblance to West
Coast jazz.97 Bernstein wrote “Solid and boppy” as a performance indication. One
hears the style’s aesthetic in the use of muted brass (a timbre heard often from
Davis), restrained use of woodwinds, vibraphone, and appropriate sounds from
traps. As the song opens, Bernstein presents the melody in octaves with flute, alto
and baritone saxophones, vibraphone, electric guitar, both hands of the pianist,
and pizzicato bass, with xylophone and muted trumpet 1 providing accents. When
the voice enters at 0’10” (1957 OCR, track 7), the doubling is on vibraphone
and electric guitar, with added instruments including flute, muted trumpet 3, and
soprano saxophone in various places with a few other gestures. The form of the
tune is ABAB’. Consistent presence of high-hat cymbal is another timbral indica-
tion of jazz. Ramin reports that Robbins criticized the use of vibraphone and flute
in this number as “too slick,” but the orchestration was not changed.98
The subsequent music for dancing is what Simeone has described as “a stun-
ningly exciting jazz fugue the like of which had never been heard on Broadway
before.”99 He notes that familiar motifs from earlier in the show sound in the
orchestra in this dance, such as the “shofar call” that opens the “Prologue” on
the 1957 OCR. The jazz fugue starts at 1’01” with the whole-note subject stated
in muted trumpet 1 (the end of each phrase punctuated with unmuted trumpet 2
doubling the final quarter note), the second entrance in muted horn 1 and cellos,
the third in muted trombones, and the fourth in bass saxophone, muted trombone
1, and strings. The segment starts with a combo, accompanied only by high-hat.
Electric guitar and vibraphone present the “shofar call” in swinging dotted eighth-
sixteenth entrances during the first statement of the subject, an idea that lengthens
into the countersubject during the subject’s second entrance (1’20”), following
two-note statements in trumpet 1 and electric guitar using the short-long rhythm
associated with “Somewhere.” These ideas gradually move into other instruments
as well as the orchestration proceeds from combo to big band, the piano becom-
ing an increasingly important timbre featuring right-handed, horn-style playing
from the bop aesthetic. The fugue ends at 2’09” with material derived from the
countersubject now scattered throughout the orchestra (flute, B-flat clarinet, bari-
tone saxophone, trumpet 1, electric guitar, cello, and bass), while the remainder
of the brass along with other instruments play accented quarter notes for empha-
sis. This segment builds to 2’22”, where the entire orchestra plays a series of
half-step motives in syncopation, twice alternating with a “Solo jazz break (ad
120 The orchestration of West Side Story
lib.)” in the trap set. At 2’34” one hears paired eighth notes and the “shofar call”
in eighth notes, a section reminiscent of the “Prologue,” again utilizing most of
the orchestra with lines doubled in many voices and a sense of sections acting as
units, something like block scoring. There is a crescendo to a full, bop big band
sound at 2’51”, where three saxophones, bassoon, and brass are in full jazz mode,
shaken trumpets and all, playing a wild version of the “Cool” theme, alternating
with woodwinds (with the distinctive addition of E-flat clarinet), electric guitar,
and piano on the line that functioned as the countersubject. Moving between these
two combinations more or less continues through the section, the score’s wildest
assertion of the Jets’ soundscape. Bernstein marked this section “Tutti sock” in
his manuscript before orchestration, referring to the last chorus in a jazz piece or
a section with strong accentuation.100 At 3’17”, the Jets sing the A and B sections
of the tune above light accompaniment and interjections by brass and woodwinds
with the swinging dotted-eighth, sixteenth-note line by woodwinds and brass and
raucous doubling of some of the vocal melody in the B section at 3’29” by pic-
colo, flute, B-flat clarinet, and trumpets, completely drowning out the voices on
the 1957 OCR if they are singing. Once the voices finish at 3’41”, the orchestra-
tion returns to something like the number’s beginning, with just vibraphone, elec-
tric guitar, and piano playing the countersubject until a closing that is primarily
vocal interjections over a high-hat cymbal, ending with a three-note statement in
woodwinds, piano, electric guitar, lower strings, and trap set.

“One Hand, One Heart”

In the next scene the lovers exchange vows in a mock wedding at the bridal shop.
The orchestral underscoring of the dialogue primarily repeats material from
the “Cha-Cha” but, revealingly, with two brief interruptions from “America”
when Tony and Maria pretend that they introduce each other to their parents.
Underscoring for the dialogue leads into “One Hand, One Heart,” similar to how
the orchestra introduced the “Meeting Scene.” Not surprisingly, this new song’s
scoring is securely within the lovers’ soundscape, mostly woodwinds and strings,
with vibraphone, horns, piano, and celesta occasionally added for color. The
underscoring as Tony and Maria take their vows includes throbbing syncopation
and movement towards the introductory material. The first time through the song
the orchestration is predictable, dominated by strings, sometimes with violins
doubling the vocal melody. Just before the voices return, violins play the “Maria”
tritone. At their joint declaration “Now it begins…” (1957 OCR, track 8, 2’12”),
strings (except bass) play tremolo for four measures, underscoring the urgency.
Strings double voices nearly to the end and the “Maria” tritone sounds in turn in
the bassoon, B-flat clarinet, and flute during the penultimate string chord.

“Tonight Quintet”
The “Tonight Quintet” follows immediately, a striking juxtaposition to “One
Hand, One Heart.” There was considerable discussion among the creators on
 The orchestration of West Side Story 121
whether or not the two numbers should have been reversed, with Bernstein
and Sondheim arguing that the quintet should precede the mock wedding, but
Robbins insisted on the opposite order.101 The quintet is one of the show’s signa-
ture numbers and most obvious evocation of an operatic aesthetic. Simeone has
commented on this point: “There is a headlong momentum in this ensemble that
seems to recall Verdi, but it is operatic urgency rather than operatic excess that
has provided the point of departure here.”102 Bernstein uses orchestration early in
the number to provide contrast between the song’s varied soundscapes. The first
1’04” (1957 OCR, track 9) occupies the gang world with brief fanfare interjec-
tions in the brass, the bass line usually moving in quarter notes in the low strings,
and staccato eighth notes in woodwinds and upper strings based upon the figures
that open each gang’s statement of what they hope to accomplish at the rumble.
Special touches are two entrances from maracas when the Jets sing directly about
the Sharks or the Sharks describe their state of readiness. The segment is basi-
cally a march in 4/4 into which Bernstein inserts measures of 3/8 and 2/4. On
“Tonight” and words that rhyme with it, brass ominously doubles the vocal line.
At 0’56”, where each gang accuses the other of starting the confrontation, punc-
tuation comes from accented eighth-note chords throughout the orchestra. When
the gangs conclude, the orchestra recalls the opening material, complicated with
ascending lip smears in alto and tenor saxophone that provide the sexy ambience
for Anita to anticipate a romantic rendezvous with Bernardo after the rumble. She
sings the same material that the gangs did—certainly appropriate given Anita’s
fierceness—but the staccato eighth notes are softer in two clarinets and violins,
and the doubling for emphasis on “tonight” is in woodwinds rather than brass,
with two horns added to emphasize “hot” at 1’23”. Short notes in the accompani-
ment for the remainder of her passage are in woodwinds and strings.
When Tony enters at 1’25” on his solo verse of “Tonight,” the accompani-
ment is comparable to what one hears in the earlier “Balcony Scene,” doubled
by cello and then joined by violins at 1’39”, but the pulsating rhythm played in
several instruments (including a fresh entrance by electric guitar) is different, built
from syncopations and off-beats while maintaining the sense of motion from the
“Balcony Scene.” Bernstein adds a new effect when he reaches the B section of
the tune at 1’54” with flute, B-flat clarinet, and violins following Tony in canon,
a contrapuntal moment that helps prepare the listener for the complex texture to
come. Perhaps there is also a hint of word-painting with Tony commenting on
the “endless day,” with the canon extending the period that we hear the melody.
Strings double Tony on the final A section. At 2’15”, the march from the number’s
opening returns in a full orchestral statement as we re-enter the gang soundscape
for Riff to make sure that Tony will attend the rumble. As Riff sings to Tony, the
scoring is lighter. (On the 1957 OCR, however, both Riff and Diesel sing here,
which is not present in the book or the score.103) When Maria enters at 2’40”, a
trio forms with Tony and Riff still singing about the rumble, and soon thereafter
Anita enters and the Jets join Riff on his line. With five-part counterpoint in the
voices there is little space for the orchestra to do anything but accompany, all
based on material from earlier in the number. Brass finally re-enters with horns
122 The orchestration of West Side Story
and trombones at 3’26”, followed soon by the trumpets as all sections return to the
song’s opening material for the exciting closing.

“The Rumble”
“The Rumble” follows, an instrumental number that, as Simeone notes, “portrays
brutality with an immediacy that is shocking.”104 In his concert music, Bernstein
never shied away from frank emotional stances. Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah
includes three movements that graphically portray the work’s program, and the
central movement, “Profanation,” which tells of societal excesses in Israel that
bring the judgment of God down upon them, has savage moments that approach
“The Rumble” in intensity. In works that came after West Side Story, Bernstein
provided violent and confrontational music in the “Din-Torah” of Symphony No.
3, Kaddish, and his setting of Psalm 2 in the second movement of Chichester
Psalms harshly contrasts with the peacefulness of his music for Psalm 23.
Bernstein’s score to the film On the Waterfront (1954) also includes shockingly
aggressive music. But the violent music that he composed for “The Rumble” is
rare in the Broadway repertory, inviting comparisons with Igor Stravinsky’s The
Rite of Spring or Béla Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin. Bernstein, however,
was not thinking in Broadway terms here. His collaborator, Jerome Robbins, had
already been the choreographer for two ballet scores by Bernstein—Fancy Free
(1944) and Facsimile (1947)—and for “The Rumble” they were again enacting a
story through pantomime, dance, and music.
It is striking to hear how much sheer sound and the wide variety of timbres
that Bernstein gets out of his pit orchestra in this number. The musical materials
mostly emanate from the “Prologue,” hinted at in Bernstein’s opening indica-
tion for “The Rumble”: “Tempo di prologue.” There are numerous “shofar calls”
and deconstructions of other materials from the “Prologue.” “The Rumble” is
notable for its lack of musical continuity because the action proceeds rapidly.
Distinctive high sounds in the first 0’51” (1957 OCT, track 10) come from pic-
colo, E-flat clarinet, and B-flat clarinet in the woodwinds and high rolls and
accented eighth notes in the xylophone, surrounding ferocious brass entrances.
An evocative effect is the high squeal generated by piccolo, muted D trumpet,
xylophone, and artificial harmonics in the violin at 0’12”, the moment when Riff
and Bernardo open their switchblades. Immediately thereafter an ostinato from
the “Prologue” begins in bassoon, trombones, pitched drums, piano, and strings,
but it only lasts four measures before Bernstein returns to the movement’s open-
ing material. He sets up a similar ostinato at 0’23”, this one a step higher and
lasting 16 measures, underscoring several angry “shofar calls,” including an
especially vicious iteration in two covered horns at 0’24”. The opening material
returns once again at 0’36”, leading quickly to numerous strident chords played
by most of the orchestra (mm. 40ff in “The Rumble”; compare with mm. 262ff
in “Prologue”), each followed on the next beat by timpani and bass drum strikes
and accented notes in bass instruments. As the knife fight begins, the “shofar
call” sounds on accented pizzicato statements in the strings, moving irregularly
 The orchestration of West Side Story 123
into other sections, gradually changing to constant eighth notes careening forward
with ever-changing but increasing density of orchestration to when Bernardo kills
Riff at 1’23”. Similarly unstable material in woodwinds and strings, also derived
from the “Prologue” (mm. 229ff), leads to the point where Tony kills Bernardo at
1’32” (emphasized by metal mallets on a chime). A free-for-all breaks out based
on music from the fight towards the end of the “Prologue” (mm. 246ff), propelled
by pounding eighth notes in horns, timpani, trap set, and lower strings, with the
entire orchestra entering at 1’45”. The siren sounds at that point and the gangs
disperse to Bernstein’s memorable sounds of pitched drums being played with
fingers, skittish and imitative entrances of the “shofar call” in woodwinds and
strings, and finally a xylophone roll on e-flat’’’ to close the act.

“I Feel Pretty”
Act 2 opens with “I Feel Pretty.” The score includes a 127-measure introduction
that functions as the entr’acte. Simeone has described how neither Laurents nor
Sondheim liked the number, believing that it seems out-of-place given the violent
end to the previous act, but Simeone also notes that “Maria daydreaming about
being in love while her friends mock her has an engaging absurdity about it” and
that the number establishes an effective contrast for later in the scene when Chino
and then Tony come and tell Maria what happened in the fight.105 This song can
be compared to “America” because both include numerous Hispanic tropes and
involve a group of women teasing a friend, but “I Feel Pretty” constitutes a differ-
ent affect, more good-natured than “America.” Simeone classifies “I Feel Pretty”
as a “fast waltz,”106 and it is, but it is also similar to an Aragonese jota, often in a
fast triple meter with some of the same characteristic rhythms,107 and the orches-
tration bears several Iberian elements: Spanish guitar, castanets, tambourine, and
onstage clapping (as in flamenco). Bernstein uses trumpets prominently in the
number; while hardly a “Spanish” instrument per se, certainly the instrument
in solo and section capacities often figures prominently in music said to sound
“Spanish” or “Latin.”108
Much of what is distinctive about the song’s orchestration sounds on the 1957
OCR (track 11) in the introduction (taken from the opening of the entr-acte), with
off-beats in the bass instruments followed by a three-measure statement (0’1”ff)
played by three flutes, B-flat clarinet, horns, trumpets, violins, and tambourine,
also often heard at the ends of the song’s phrases. The castanets enter soon there-
after at 0’04” on four sixteenth notes with many of the same instruments in a pat-
tern that sounds twice before Maria enters. Bernstein doubles the vocal line with
flute an octave higher, a second flute joining in parallel sixths on the repeat. This
operatic scoring technique provides a girlish charm and underlines that Maria
sings with the most lyrical voice among the women in the show. The flutes con-
tinue to play this role during most of the first time through the AABA tune with
another flute, B-flat clarinet, and violins joining in at 0’51”. At 0’58” Bernstein
modulates from F major to A Phrygian (a mode common in Spanish music) and
pairs rapid, ascending and descending arpeggios in woodwinds, violins, and piano
124 The orchestration of West Side Story
with off-beat chords in the brass to complicate the texture as Maria’s three friends
mock her. The orchestration also includes castanets and guitar. Bernstein added
delightful little touches like two flutes and B-flat clarinet doubling and harmoniz-
ing an ornamented version of the vocal line at 1’11”. The trio of friends suggests
that Maria believes herself to be in Spain (at 1’18”), accompanied by a humorous
glissando in guitar and first and second violins, sounding moments before “dis-
ease” and “refined,” emphasizing these words. Glissandi in a number of instru-
ments at 1’30 lead into a heavier orchestral accompaniment, underlining Maria’s
feigned madness. The soloist starts the second time through the AABA form at
1’51” as her friends continue their gentle chiding. Except for such subtle changes
as adding another flute to the accompaniment of Maria’s solo, the orchestration
includes little that is new for the remainder of the song.

“Dream Ballet”
Chino comes and tells Maria what happened at the rumble. She asks desperately
about Tony and he tells her that her boyfriend killed her brother. Tony comes in
the window shortly after Chino leaves and, although Maria is furious, they quickly
reconstruct themselves as a couple. The dream ballet that follows is understood to
take place as they consummate their relationship, evoking the peaceful world that
they require. Segments of this complex scene that were part of the original pro-
duction include “Under Dialogue,” “Ballet Sequence,” “Transition to Scherzo,”
“Scherzo,” “Somewhere,” and “Procession and Nightmare.” Many productions
perform the dream but cut the nightmare in which Riff and Bernardo appear and
re-enact some of the rumble. The 1957 OCR (track 12) includes the entirety of
the “Ballet Sequence,” “Transition to Scherzo,” “Scherzo,” “Somewhere,” and a
trimmed-down version of the “Procession and Nightmare” that begins and ends
as in the score. The 2009 OCR (track 13) starts with the “Ballet Sequence” and
includes each section through “Somewhere,” connecting the song’s conclusion
to the end of the “Procession and Nightmare” when Tony and Maria sing. On his
1984 SR, the composer included the first 13 measures of “Under Dialogue” in the
track (2/2) entitled “Ballet Sequence,” then skipping 10 measures to where Tony
starts to sing. The recording includes all of the scene through “Somewhere,” but
has a cut version of the “Procession and Nightmare” (2/6). Despite Bernstein’s
idiosyncratic choices of singers, the studio orchestra was superb and Bernstein
the conductor and the Deutsche Grammophon engineers managed a clarity in the
instrumental lines not found on either of the OCRs.
Bernstein’s motivic approach to his West Side Story score has been well-doc-
umented, but such was also his wont in his concert music.109 His taut explora-
tion and development of materials from “Maria,” the “Cha-Cha,” “Prologue,” and
“The Rumble,” in the dream ballet, surrounding the score’s first full presenta-
tion of the song “Somewhere,” are a highlight of his entire output. In a scene
that touches on a wide range of emotions, Bernstein includes an ample palette
of orchestral timbres. The opening of “Under Dialogue” is a development of the
short-long rhythmic pattern that plays an important role on the last two syllables
 The orchestration of West Side Story 125
of the title name in the song “Maria” and also on the setting of “Somewhere.”
An ominous ostinato in the timpani underscores ascending half-step entrances
in strings and horn 1, spreading out to other woodwinds and brass to introduce
Tony’s sudden vocal entrance where he offers to flee with Maria. She joins him as
horn 1 and cellos continue the rising half-steps, but the dominant accompaniment
is ghostly with two flutes, oboe, B-flat clarinet, and violins following the outline
of the faster vocal melody in half-notes. In the “Somewhere” track of the 1957
OCR, the voices stop at 0’20”, leading to their melody in woodwinds, trumpet
1, violins, and cellos for two measures, and then a desperate development by
full orchestra of materials heard thus far in the scene, leading to the “Transition
to Scherzo” at 0’35”. It opens with two statements of the “Somewhere” motive,
the first with three trumpets and the second without brass, moving from fff to
mf. For the remainder of this transition, Bernstein plays the sections off of each
other with minimal use of brass as the short-long rhythm, sounding with vari-
ous melodic intervals, jumps between winds and strings, becoming sprightly.
The “Scherzo” begins at 1’07” with flute, oboe, two B-flat clarinets, horns on a
long note, celesta, and violins (later cellos), and moments of emphasis from the
trumpets as members of the cast dance whimsically. At 1’17” material from the
“Cha-Cha” enters in staccato notes in woodwinds and pizzicato in the strings,
material that reappears a few times in the sequence. The short-long motive from
“Somewhere” sounds memorably at 1’38” when scored for flute, oboe, two B-flat
clarinets, answered with high winds and muted trumpet, a striking contrast that
recurs. The “Somewhere” motive keeps interrupting, becoming more prominent
at 2’13”, sounding against the “Cha-Cha” material in muted trumpets and strings,
finally petering out to set up the song “Somewhere,” sung in the original produc-
tion from the pit by Reri Grist.
We re-enter the lovers’ soundscape, dominated by strings. In contrast to a
score that often features a fairly full orchestration, “Somewhere” starts off inti-
mately and its accompaniment never includes the entire orchestra. Use of brass,
for example, is limited to three small but significant solo entrances by horn 1 and
both horns playing the opening of the theme doubled by cellos on the last chord.
Solo horn provides the singer’s pitch coming out of the “Scherzo,” and the vocal-
ist enters with the opening minor seventh, that interval imitated by solo violin and
cello for the next five measures. The phrase concludes with two B-flat clarinets
and vibraphone joining the voice on the “Somewhere” motive. Accompaniment
for the second phrase (1984 SR, track 2/5, 0’35”) in the AABA structure is con-
trasting with a flute obbligato line marked “pure and limpid” that starts in imita-
tion, piano arpeggios in dotted rhythms, and a growing string accompaniment that
swells, emphasizing a major climax (1’05”) where the text suggests that at some
point the lovers will be free. The strings grow to a satisfying roar with violins
divided into their full seven parts and cellos in their complete complement of
four lines, the phrase ornamented contrapuntally with two descending lines in the
cellos. This conjunct line follows later in solo horn, and frequently at the end of
the phrase by cello and bassoon, bass clarinet, and finally cello and bassoon just
before the final A section begins (1’43”). Cello and bassoon also combine with
126 The orchestration of West Side Story
a lovely muted horn entrance on a descending fifth to the “Somewhere” rhythm.
The remainder of the song’s accompaniment repeats elements heard before with
an effective closing that combines the “Somewhere” motive in the violins and the
aforementioned use of the first measures of the melody in horns and cellos.
“Procession and Nightmare” is a microcosm of the show’s two extremes,
reflecting the competing soundscapes of the lovers and gang violence. It opens
with material that also sounds in the “Finale,” combining the “Somewhere” motive
(English horn) with “I Have a Love” (two flutes in imitation), accompanied mem-
orably by chords from muted trumpets 2 and 3 and piano with off-beats in the bass
range from several instruments. At 0’29” (1984 SR, track 2/6), Bernstein makes
use of the “Somewhere” opening in canon, a gesture already explored generously
in the accompaniment with trumpet 1, flute, violin, and finally all voices singing
in canon, all over a double-timed continuation of the chords and accompaniment
from the segment’s opening. A grand pause at 0’56” signals an emotional inten-
sification as chords and off-beats become louder, more dissonant, and generalized
throughout the orchestra, leading to a return of music and typical orchestration
from “The Rumble” at 1’16”. On the 1984 SR material from “Somewhere” recurs
at 1’52”, back to the lovers’ soundscape with solo oboe, bassoon, and flute along
with strings at first and few surprises in the orchestration thereafter as Tony and
Maria sing the end of the song. The last three measures of this segment also close
the show with a slightly different orchestration.

“Gee, Officer Krupke”

In this song the remaining Jets lampoon the various social agencies that try to
deal with juvenile delinquency. It constitutes a unique soundscape in the show.
Sondheim’s lyrics are very important in this ironic song and presented quickly;
the orchestra takes a backseat to the singers and the extensive stage business.
Marked “Fast, vaudeville style,” the number is a march energized at the beginning
with full orchestra and melody carried in bassoon, horns, trombones (opening
with a slide that establishes the vaudeville feeling; such slapstick effects were
suggested by Ramin for this number110), piano, and low strings, with almost all
other instruments playing off-beats. The accompaniment for most of the song is an
oom-pah pattern in strings, piano, and percussion with the vocal melody, for con-
trast, occasionally doubled and harmonized in thirds, such as at 0’22” (1957 OCR,
track 13) where two B-flat clarinets and violins join the singers. At 0’36”, where
the Jets divide into parts, more of the orchestra joins in for emphasis. Transitions
between verses, like that which starts at 0’42”, are repetitions of the opening
material featuring melody in horns, trombones, piano, and lower strings. Most of
the strophes in the song have a similar accompaniment with a few exceptions to
assist with characterization: at 1’26” the typical accompaniment changes to piano
as the Jets suggest that they are mentally unbalanced; at 3’06” Baby John imitates
a female social worker in falsetto, accompanied by long string chords, unlike
anything else in the song; at 3’28”, as the Jets list their flaws, the accompaniment
stagnates with the oom-pah accompaniment and long, soft chords in the winds,
 The orchestration of West Side Story 127
emphasizing the text; and at 3’41”, in the final chorus, Bernstein provides more of
a big band feeling with grand gestures like the strong doubling of the vocal line
in woodwinds and strings.

“A Boy Like That/I Have a Love”

The final song in West Side Story is a double number: “A Boy Like That,” where
Anita tears into Maria after discovering that she had been with Tony soon after
he killed Bernardo; and “I Have a Love,” Maria’s defense, an argument that mol-
lifies Anita and enlists her help by trying to get a message to Tony. Thus, “A
Boy Like That/I Have a Love” carries a large dramatic load, and orchestration
supplies the movement between the two soundscapes: the evocation of violence
somewhat like “The Rumble” that accompanies Anita, and a return to the world
that Maria has delighted in with Tony. The orchestration of the first two measures
is among the show’s most vicious moments with an emphasis on bass instru-
ments playing an angry motive. Woodwinds include the extraordinary choice of
three bass clarinets and bassoon; all seven brass instruments play muted and low
in their ranges; strings, marked marcato, double other parts with a continuing
emphasis on low sonorities. This functions as a ritornello that sounds between
each of Anita’s phrases in the AABA form, but it is only one measure before the
B section, as if she is so enraged that she cannot wait to sing. Anita’s part is low,
so when she sings the accompaniment is lighter with nearly constant eighth notes
and some held chords formed from brief motives in the woodwinds (now includ-
ing flute); long notes in the trumpets, played piano; chords in the violins; and
pizzicato followed by bowed chords in the lower strings. These choices continue
through 0’31” (1957 OCR, track 14), during the B section, when the dominant
effect becomes the doubling of Anita’s vocal line, first by bassoon, later add-
ing flute, violin, and cello as she reaches the top of her register and the apex at
0’39”, stridently condemning Maria’s behavior. The final ritornello and A section
are similar to what has been heard before until 0’54”, the last half of the phrase,
when chords in woodwinds and strings increase the intensity and pave the way
for Maria’s interruption at 1’01”, accompanied by material derived from the ritor-
nello but scored for just flute, two bass clarinets, and violins.
As Maria begins to argue with Anita at 1’09”, flute and violins 1, 2, and 3
double her, similar to her accompaniment in the past, but the remainder continues
to be Anita’s music as they sing in counterpoint, Anita performing her A and B
sections and Maria moving onto the melody that will become “I Have a Love.”
Anita at this point would seem to have the upper hand, but everything changes at
1’47”, where Maria calls her friend out, reaching a b-flat”, reminding Anita that
she had been in love. The accompaniment here is the last moment for ritornello
material, played savagely in woodwinds, horns, and strings. Maria sings over lim-
ited accompaniment during the transition to “I Have a Love,” ushered in with a
brief bassoon motive over a soft string chord. Similar to Maria’s solo moments in
“Tonight,” the orchestration here pulsates (with subtle syncopations) or sounds in
long chords in woodwinds and strings and moving between doubling the melody
128 The orchestration of West Side Story
and not, along with instruments stating segments of her melody when she holds a
long note at the end of the phrase, like the horn 1 solo at 0’28” (1957 OCR, track
15). Bernstein provides a satisfying build-up at 1’20”, near the number’s vocal
climax, adding timpani, bass notes in the piano, and wide leaps in the strings,
driven on by stating the song’s principal melody in flute, horn 1, and violins, and
accompaniment including the brass, against her g” on “life.” The accompaniment
stays fairly full as Anita joins Maria in harmony at 1’39”—signaling her assent to
her friend’s love—and a similar accompaniment continues as they sing together
the final long note.

“Taunting Scene”
Anita goes to Doc’s drugstore to give Maria’s message to Tony, but the Jets do not
let her, and the “Taunting Scene” ensues. The music ostensibly emanates from the
jukebox and is often prerecorded by the orchestra for a production. The selection
does not appear on either OCR; Bernstein recorded a cut version of it on his 1984
SR (track 2/10). The entire selection resides within Anita’s soundscape, open-
ing with material from the “Mambo” (first 0’33” of the track) followed by fresh
material derived from “America” (to 0’49”) and concluding with a deconstructed
version of that song in which the composer adds beats in unexpected places and
repeats material. As the taunting turns into a rape, a straighter version of the song
starts (at 1’04”), but it devolves into chords on unexpected beats. It is notable that
Bernstein and Robbins chose to play this as a recording when the scene, like the
rumble, is a choreographed act of violence that calls for appropriate dance music.
However, Anita attempts to enter a non-existent world when she tries to help
Tony, so a ghostly reminder of this music is appropriate, and the unexpected ele-
ments that Bernstein introduced help describe the Jets’ brutal reaction. Bernstein
uses full orchestra through most of the segment with instruments playing material
very much like what sounded before in the “Mambo” and “America.”

“Finale”
The finale written for West Side Story is not what has appeared on recordings. On
the 1957 OCR (track 16), the “Finale” opens with the cast singing “Somewhere,”
continues to Tony and Maria performing their phrase as in the score before
Tony dies, and then includes the written instrumental closing that combines
“Somewhere” and “I Have a Love,” earlier heard at the end of the dream ballet.
On the 2009 OCR (track 16) there is a shortened version of Tony and Maria sing-
ing the phrase before he dies, some of it in Spanish from Maria, and then only the
last three measures of the score. Bernstein included the entire composed “Finale”
on his 1984 SR (2/11). In that version, Tony and Maria remain unaccompanied,
providing a stark emotional context for his death. After Maria finishes singing, the
orchestra plays the “Somewhere” motive (0’27”ff) with a bright timbre from two
flutes, two B-flat clarinets, and violins while bassoon, two horns, and cellos start
the melody of the song. The violins pick up the tune where the cellos left off. A
 The orchestration of West Side Story 129
grand pause stops “Somewhere” suddenly after the seventh measure of the eight-
bar phrase as Maria warns everyone to “Stay back!” Her monologue ensues; after
she expresses her love once more to “Anton” we hear the instrumental conclusion
(1’14”ff), a lightly scored recapitulation of the end of the dream ballet. Two flutes
play the melody of “I Have a Love,” dove-tailing in and out to avoid breaking the
line while trumpet 2, muted, plays the “Somewhere” motive over half-notes in
one B-flat clarinet and muted trumpets 1 and 3 and off-beats in strings, percussion,
electric guitar, and piano. Four measures of the canonic treatment of the opening
of the song “Somewhere” in flute, oboe, and violins with similar accompaniment
preface the last three measures, where the “Somewhere” motive sounds in muted
trumpet 2 in the midst of a C major chord followed by F-sharp off-beats in the
bassoon, timpani, piano, cello, and bass. In the original score, Bernstein left the
F-sharp out of the last measure, adding it in the published orchestral score, but the
final F-sharp also fails to sound on the 1984 SR. Given the tritone’s importance
in the score, whether or not it sounds in the last measure carries some musico-
dramatic importance. A C major chord at the end of the show offers some hope,
but the final presence of the tritone, which has been associated with so much of the
violence in the show, makes one question if anything has been resolved.

Conclusion
As noted in the biographical sections on Ramin and Kostal in Chapter 2, the stage
version of West Side Story did not mark the end of their work on the property.
They played major roles in bringing the music to additional audiences through
assisting with the orchestration of Bernstein’s suite Symphonic Dances from West
Side Story, premiered by the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Lukas
Foss on 13 February 1961, and as serving as orchestrators and musical supervi-
sors for the film version, released on 18 October 1961.
Ramin has noted that their intention with the Symphonic Dances was to avoid
the show’s popular songs and create a suite of the dances and symphonic moments
in the score.111 According to Burton, Ramin and Kostal submitted a list of possible
movements to Bernstein,112 who decided upon the running order for the suite:
“Prologue,” “Somewhere,” “Scherzo,” “Mambo,” “Cha-Cha,” “Meeting Scene,”
“Cool Fugue,” “Rumble,” and “Finale.” Written for symphony orchestra, the
Symphonic Dances provide a version with fuller musical texture than was possible
from the original pit orchestra. With motives recurring throughout the selections,
like they do in the show itself, the suite functions effectively as an organic whole
and has become one of Bernstein’s most popular concert pieces.
Ramin recalls that Bernstein insisted that his two orchestration assistants from
the show should also work on the film.113 The two men had time in New York
City before they were to leave for Hollywood and Kostal suggested that they
begin their work. They were fairly certain that they would be given whatever
instrumentation they wanted for the film, so they pushed ahead in their spare time
and had perhaps one-quarter of the arrangements done by the time they arrived
on the West Coast. Ramin notes that they got the reputation for working with
130 The orchestration of West Side Story
great speed because nobody knew that they came with some prepared scores. The
studio provided them with whatever instrumentation they requested, including,
according to Ramin, four xylophones. As is the case with the Symphonic Dances,
the film of West Side Story includes a full orchestra, causing the soundtrack to
sound completely different than the Broadway recording. In order to make Ramin
and Kostal eligible for an Oscar, at the urging of film composer Elmer Bernstein,
the Mirisch brothers, who produced the film, also named the two men musical
supervisors for the project. Ramin and Kostal shared the Academy Award with
conductor Johnny Green and the main musical supervisor Saul Chaplin. Bernstein
was not eligible for the award because he did not write the music originally for
film. Ramin had great fun taunting his friend about how he won the Oscar when
the actual composer did not. Bernstein, in fact, busy as music director of the New
York Philharmonic, had little to do with the film, but he did write a few new musi-
cal passages for the score.114 He was sent recordings of musical segments by Saul
Chaplin and extant correspondence tells us that Bernstein was not pleased with
everything that he heard.115
The huge success of the film for West Side Story was a decisive factor in mak-
ing the property one of the most famous of Broadway shows. As Misha Berson
has stated: “The 1961 Oscar-honored movie version is, next to The Sound of
Music, the most popular live-action movie musical ever made.”116 Many recog-
nized the show’s ground-breaking nature, but without the effective film that won
ten Academy Awards and became popular internationally, the show would not
have become a cultural icon. Musicals on stage and in films are hugely collabora-
tive projects with numerous artists and technicians from many disciplines being
involved in the success or failure—making contributions in one area only a part
of the result—but it is unusual indeed for the same orchestrators to work in both
Broadway and Hollywood on the same property. Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal,
therefore, were significant figures in the success of both the original Broadway
show and the subsequent film. One hopes that we will continue to understand the
details and effects of orchestration in other such projects in the future.

Notes
1 Misha Berson, Something’s Coming, Something Good: West Side Story and the
American Imagination (Milwaukee, WI: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books/Hal
Leonard Corporation, 2011), 20. See also: Greg Lawrence, Dance with Demons: The
Life of Jerome Robbins (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2001), 124–25.
2 Elizabeth A. Wells, West Side Story: Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical
(Latham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2011), 31.
3 Nigel Simeone, The Leonard Bernstein Letters (New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 2013), 342–43.
4 “Excerpts from a West Side Story Log” appears in: Leonard Bernstein, Findings (New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), 144–47.
5 Wells, 31.
6 Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 348.
7 Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 349.
8 Humphrey Burton, Leonard Bernstein (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 250.
 The orchestration of West Side Story 131
9 See, for example, how Sondheim wanted to change the lyrics for “I Feel Pretty,”
but was not allowed to by his collaborators in: Stephen Sondheim, Finishing the
Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies,
Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010), 48.
10 Nigel Simeone, Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story (Farnham, Surrey, England:
Ashgate Publishing, Limited, 2009), 62.
11 Simeone, West Side Story, 63–64.
12 Bernstein told his wife Felicia about the song in a letter on 8 August 1957, stating that
he wrote it with Sondheim the previous day. See: Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 366.
13 See, for example: Geoffrey Block, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from
Show Boat to Sondheim (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 245–73, 341–43,
381–88, and Joseph P. Swain, The Broadway Musical: A Critical and Musical Survey
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 205–46; and Nigel Simeone, West Side
Story, 75–112.
14 Simeone, West Side Story, 80–83.
15 Library of Congress, Leonard Bernstein Collection, 1079/19.
16 For detailed descriptions of Bernstein’s efforts towards unifying motives in these
works, see: Helen Smith, There’s A Place for Us: The Musical Theatre Works of
Leonard Bernstein (Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011).
17 Burton, 275.
18 Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 361.
19 Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 363.
20 Simeone, West Side Story, 89.
21 Steven Suskin, The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators &
Orchestrations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 62.
22 Kostal erroneously placed this period of work starting in May, when he says they
started to see Bernstein 12 hours each day. See: Suskin, 62.
23 https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​b​.com​​/thea​​tre​/w​​inter​​-gard​​en​-th​​​eatre​​-1391​, accessed 9 July 2019.
24 Suskin, 239.
25 Burton, 270.
26 See: Simeone, West Side Story, 90 and Suskin, 239–40.
27 Burton, 270. Sid Ramin states this in his autobiographical film: Sid Ramin: A Life
in Music, dir. Richard Kaplan. Family Tribute Films, 2010. He notes that there were
three violin parts, with the Violin C part played by the Shubert house players. The
score of West Side Story divides into three books with parts 5, 6, and 7 in the third
violin book.
28 Simeone, West Side Story, 41–43.
29 Simeone, West Side Story, 86.
30 Simeone, West Side Story, 87–89, on the show’s instrumentation.
31 Simeone, West Side Story, 87, and Suskin, 240.
32 Allen Shawm, Leonard Bernstein: All-American Musician, Jewish Lives (New
Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2014), 149.
33 Simeone, West Side Story (p. 88), states that there were five percussionists in the pit,
but Suskin (p. 573) reports that Ramin said that there were only two percussionists,
one on the trap set and the other busily running between everything else. Herb Harris,
who served as a substitute for the show, confirmed that there were only two percus-
sionists. More have been added since. There were three in the 1968 production at the
New York State Theater of Lincoln Center, and the 1994 orchestral score calls for a
timpanist and four other percussionists.
34 Orchestral score: Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome
Robbins, West Side Story (New York: Jalni Publications, Inc./Boosey & Hawkes,
1994), [xiv].
35 Suskin, 228. For a study of Bernstein’s use of saxophones in West Side Story and
other dramatic works, see: Wayne Eric Gargrave, “The Use of the Saxophone in the
132 The orchestration of West Side Story
Dramatic Music of Leonard Bernstein: A Guide for Informed Performance” (DMA
thesis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006), and Aaron Thomas
Patterson, “Use of Saxophones in West Side Story: An Analysis of the Original
Scores” (DMA thesis, Manhattan School of Music, 2014).
36 Suskin, 240.
37 Suskin, 396.
38 Simeone, West Side Story, 90–91. Ramin also described these meetings in Sid Ramin:
A Life in Music.
39 Shawm, 149.
40 Simeone, West Side Story, 91.
41 Suskin, 74.
42 Simeone, West Side Story, 91.
43 Simeone, West Side Story, 91.
44 Suskin, 62–63.
45 Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 366.
46 Suskin, 63.
47 Burton, 270.
48 Simeone, West Side Story, 91. For another version of the story, see: Suskin, 75.
49 Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 366.
50 Simeone, West Side Story, 91.
51 There is an interesting story to be told, if only manuscripts could talk. Manuscript
1079/18 in the Library of Congress Bernstein Collection is a sketch of “Tonight” in
Bernstein’s hand with the beguine rhythms already included. Manuscript 1079/17 is
titled “Balcony Scene Revisionsbericht 4 July ’57,” a report on changes made that
dates from the period when the three men worked together. It also includes the beguine
rhythms; it is impossible to know exactly what Kostal might have suggested or when.
52 Simeone, West Side Story, 92.
53 Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 366.
54 Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 371–72.
55 Simeone, West Side Story, 92.
56 Simeone, West Side Story, 92.
57 Burton, 274.
58 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 44.
59 Quoted in: Burton, 50.
60 For a study of the music of Fancy Free, see: Paul R. Laird and Hsun Lin,
Leonard Bernstein: A Research and Information Guide, 2nd ed., Routledge Music
Bibliographies (New York: Routledge, 2015), 35–39.
61 For a description of the initial part of Bernstein’s compositional process in Chichester
Psalms, see: Paul R. Laird, The Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein (Hillsdale,
NY: Pendragon Press, 2010), 52–53.
62 The main section of the “Blues,” the opening movement of the “Dance at the Gym,” is
designated “Rocky.” See the piano/vocal score: Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents,
Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Robbins, West Side Story (New York: G. Schirmer
and Chappell & Co., Inc., 1957, 1959), 63–66.
63 Orchestral score: Bernstein, etc., 308.
64 Hal Kemp (1905–1940) was a clarinetist, alto saxophonist, and bandleader who led
his own big band for much of his short adult life. His ensemble was known “for its
sweet, smooth playing.” See: “Kemp, Hal,” The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd
ed. (London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2002), vol. 2, p. 481.
65 “Finding Aid, Sid Ramin Papers, Circa 1957–2009, Bulk 1957–1995,” https​:/​/fi​​nding​​
aids.​​libra​​ry​.co​​lumbi​​a​.edu​​/ead/​​nnc​-r​​b​/ldp​​d​_4​07​​9249/​​dsc​/2​, accessed 12 September
2020.
66 This selection includes Tony singing material that is not in the scene’s final version,
demonstrating how late the “Dream Ballet” sequence came to its final form. Also, the
 The orchestration of West Side Story 133
four manuscripts listed here as part of the “Ballet Sequence” appear in a single entry
under “Ballet Sequence” in the “Finding Aid.”
67 The “Finding Aid” simply identifies the number as “A Boy Like That,” but it moves
directly into “I Have a Love.” See: https​:/​/fi​​nding​​aids.​​libra​​ry​.co​​lumbi​​a​.edu​​/ead/​​nnc​-r​​
b​/ldp​​d​_4​07​​9249/​​dsc​/1​, accessed 13 September 2020.
68 As Suskin notes, this “Temporary Overture” was cobbled together so that Bernstein
would have something to conduct before the show when West Side Story returned to
Broadway on 27 April 1960 after its national tour. The medley includes the “Quintet,”
“Somewhere,” and the “Mambo.” Burton (p. 326) describes this event.
69 In the online “Finding Aid,” this number is erroneously identified as the “Death Hall
Sequence.” See: https​:/​/fi​​nding​​aids.​​libra​​ry​.co​​lumbi​​a​.edu​​/ead/​​nnc​-r​​b​/ldp​​d​_4​07​​9249/​​
dsc​/1​, accessed 13 September 2020.
70 The “Finding Aid” now also includes “35 pages of manuscript notes by orchestrators
and others.” These sources were not available at the archive until after the research
for this book had been completed and when the archive was closed to non-Columbia
personnel by COVID-19. Consequently, they have not been consulted for this study.
71 See, for example, Simeone, West Side Story, on “The Manuscripts,” 53–74.
72 Suskin, 571–73.
73 Suskin (p. 572) seems to have missed Kostal’s work on pages 34–35. He identifies the
hands by sections of the song rather than page numbers of the manuscript.
74 Suskin, 573.
75 https​:/​/fi​​nding​​aids.​​libra​​ry​.co​​lumbi​​a​.edu​​/ead/​​nnc​-r​​b​/ldp​​d​_4​07​​9249/​​dsc​/2​, accessed 21
September 2020.
76 Burton, 95–96. The “Finding Aid” for the Library of Congress Leonard Bernstein
Collection states that Conch Town was composed in Key West in either 1940 or
1941. See: https​:/​/fi​​nding​​aids.​​loc​.g​​ov​/db​​/sear​​ch​/xq​​/sear​​chMfe​​rDsc0​​4​.xq?​​_id​=l​​oc​.mu​​
sic​.e​​admus​​.mu99​​8001&​_start​=9749&​​_lines​=125&​_q​=conchtown&_, accessed 13
September 2020.
77 Pages 18 and 19 with measures 66 to 73 are missing in this manuscript.
78 Piano/vocal score: Bernstein, etc, is the source for the song lyrics referenced in this
chapter.
79 Many such telegrams may be seen in the Bernstein Collection at the Library of
Congress, and in the papers of numerous other famed Broadway figures.
80 Recordings: Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story, Original
Broadway Cast, CD [1957] (Columbia CK 32603, 1973); Leonard Bernstein and
Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story, 2 CDs (Deutsche
Grammophon 415 253-2, 1985); Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, West
Side Story, The New Broadway Cast Recording, CD (Sony Masterworks Broadway
88697-53085-2, 2009).
81 Anthony J. Bushard has addressed the similarities between the score to On the
Waterfront and West Side Story more than once, including in his article “From On
the Waterfront to West Side Story, or There’s Nowhere Like Somewhere,” Studies in
Musical Theatre 3, no. 1 (2009): 61–75.
82 Katherine Baber, Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz (Urbana, Chicago, and
Springfield, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2019), 163.
83 Baber, 164.
84 Simeone, West Side Story, 55–57.
85 Simeone, West Side Story, 82, and Jack Gottlieb, Funny, It Doesn’t Sound Jewish:
How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway,
and Hollywood (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2004), 179.
86 Simeone, West Side Story, 96.
87 Wells, 104–07.
88 Simeone, West Side Story, 97–98.
89 Simeone, West Side Story, 98.
134 The orchestration of West Side Story
90 Orchestral score: Bernstein, etc., 116.
91 Simeone, West Side Story, 91.
92 Orchestral scores: Bernstein, etc., 152–57. Piano/vocal score: Bernstein, etc., 63–66.
93 Jorge Duany, “Popular Music in Puerto Rico: Toward an Anthropology of Salsa,”
Latin American Music Review 5, no. 2 (1984): 190.
94 Don Randel, ed., The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, MA: The
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986), 382, and Wells, 124.
95 Wells, 124.
96 Robert L. Parker, “Copland and Chávez: Brothers-in-Arms,” American Music 5, no.
4 (1987): 436.
97 Berson, 100.
98 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
99 Simeone, West Side Story, 102.
100 “Sock,” The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed. (London: Macmillan Publishers
Limited, 2002), vol. 3, 629.
101 Berson, 102.
102 Simeone, West Side Story, 106.
103 See the following sources: in the orchestral score, Bernstein, etc., 283; in the piano/
vocal score, Bernstein, etc., 120; and in the book: William Shakespeare, Romeo
and Juliet and Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome
Robbins, West Side Story (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1965), 188.
104 Simeone, West Side Story, 106.
105 Simeone, West Side Story, 107.
106 Simeone, West Side Story, 107.
107 Randel, ed., 422.
108 The trumpet carries a strong association with music from the corridas de toros in
Spain and Mexico, probably emanating from the nineteenth century when trumpet
fanfares would open an afternoon of bullfighting and pasodobles were played by
bands as matadores entered the ring. The most famous of these pasodobles is La
Virgen de la Macarena, attributed to Bernardino Bautista Monterde (1880–1959),
popularized by the trumpet virtuoso Rafael Méndez (1906–1981). In terms of music
from the Americas, the trumpet is strongly associated with Mexican mariachi and
Cuban dance music, among other genres. Bernstein might also have been thinking
about something like the orchestral character piece España by Emmanuel Chabrier
(1841–1894), which has a prominent solo for muted trumpet and later use of the
instrument. Chabrier’s work also strongly resembles a jota in terms of its meter and
dance qualities.
109 Jack Gottlieb, for example, made this one of the main points of his doctoral docu-
ment on Bernstein’s music, one of the first major statements on his musical style:
Jack Gottlieb, “The Music of Leonard Bernstein: A Study of Melodic Manipulations”
(DMA document, University of Illinois, 1964).
110 Burton, 270.
111 Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
112 Burton, 320–21.
113 This material on their orchestrations for the film is paraphrased from Ramin’s descrip-
tion of the project on Sid Ramin: A Life in Music.
114 Berson, 157.
115 See, for example, Simeone, Bernstein Letters, 433, for a telegram that Bernstein sent
to Chaplin on 20 September 1960 where he asked that some of the audio tracks for the
film he had heard to be rerecorded because of poor tempo choices and wrong notes.
According to Simeone (p. 433, n. 75), it was also the composer who asked that Marni
Nixon dub the singing voice for Natalie Wood rather than allowing the star to sing
Maria’s songs for the film.
116 Berson, 3.
5 Process and effect in the
orchestration of Gypsy

On the way to a score

Gypsy Rose Lee (1911–70, née Rose Louise Hovick), who made a cultural sensa-
tion of herself by rising to the top of the striptease world in the 1930s as a per-
former who did more talking than actual disrobing, published her show business
memoir in 1957. The author admitted to Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book for
the show, that much about the account was fictional,1 but with a plot that featured
a memorable stage mother ruthlessly promoting her daughters, set in the bygone
worlds of vaudeville and burlesque, the book was ideal for adaptation into a musi-
cal. David Merrick, a Broadway producer who had started a successful career ear-
lier in the decade, purchased the rights and began to look for his creative staff. He
wanted Ethel Merman to play the mother, Rose, and asked her to read the mem-
oir; Merman liked the role and agreed to remain available.2 At the end of 1956,
Merrick asked Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne to work on an adap-
tation, but the lyric team had trouble getting a handle on the characters of Rose
and June, and by August they had given up.3 Through machinations that have
been described in various ways and orders of events, Leland Hayward became
a co-producer and Jerome Robbins said that he would direct and choreograph if
Laurents wrote the book.4 That Robbins wanted Laurents was not surprising after
their successful collaboration on West Side Story, but the playwright was leery of
working with the difficult Robbins again and also found himself lukewarm about
the source material. When Laurents started to learn more about Gypsy Rose Lee’s
mother, including her possible lesbianism and accusations of murder, he became
interested in the project.5 The story he wrote involved the theme of a mother who
lives her life through her children with Rose as the main character; any problems
that Laurents had with Robbins he put aside to again enjoy the man’s genius at
staging musicals. The playwright went to lunch with Ethel Merman to find out
if she was willing to play Rose as a supremely difficult woman, and the star told
him that she would do whatever he wanted.6 Laurents approached both Irving
Berlin and Cole Porter to write the score; each had worked well with Merman
in the past. Berlin “couldn’t see where her mother came in” and Porter had lost
interest in collaborating on shows.7 Laurents then suggested his friend Stephen
Sondheim, knowing that he would write superb lyrics and with some doubts about

DOI: 10.4324/9780429023378-5
136 The orchestration of Gypsy
his then-unproven work as a composer, but Laurents “knew we’d have a great
time.”8 After hearing songs that Sondheim had written for what later became A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Robbins accepted Sondheim as
lyricist and composer, but Merman’s agent (and perhaps the singer herself) nixed
the young artist as creator of the music because “Ethel wanted a composer with
a reputation.”9 Also, according to Laurents, Merrick and Leland also were not
excited about an unknown composer.
Robbins, who had directed Bells Are Ringing (1956) with a score by Jule Styne,
suggested him, an acceptable choice for Merman’s camp.10 Styne has said that he
was already in conversation with Merrick about re-entering the project before
Robbins contacted him.11 Although well established as a Broadway composer,
Styne was entirely willing to audition for Laurents. He came to Laurents’s home
with Robbins and sat down at the piano, Laurents reports, and “he … played …
his own music, a surprising variety of music. It was love—at first sight for him,
at first hearing for his music.”12 Laurents has also stated that Styne’s music “has
more guts than I thought possible. Listening to it, I realized that this man had a far
greater range than I had thought.”13 In 1985, Styne stated a good reason for him
to compose the music:

My early experience of playing in a burlesque house, when I was fourteen

years old, served me well in this show. I remembered a lot of things that I
needed to remember musically. I made the music different, but it had the
same raw feeling and it worked well.14

Sondheim was not sure that he wanted to just write the lyrics like he had for West
Side Story, afraid that he might be “pigeon-holed forever as a lyricist,” but his
mentor Oscar Hammerstein II again stepped in—as he had for West Side Story—
this time convincing Sondheim that it would be worthwhile to write for an estab-
lished star, which proved to be the case.15 Years later, Sondheim was able to say:
“Because I liked the piece enough and because I knew and liked Jule’s stuff a lot,
I said O.K.”16
As the show developed, Laurents and Sondheim became the collaborators
most responsible for content. Along with Styne, they wrote the show fairly
quickly, in about four months during fall 1958.17 Laurents and Sondheim spoke
often on the phone as Laurents wrote the book and Sondheim would take their
discussions under advisement as he worked with Styne on songs, helping them
to know what type of number to write for each scene and what the song needed
to say about characters and dramatic situation. Given the depth of their discus-
sions as to what should happen in the plot, Sondheim surely had an influence on
the book’s content, and Laurents helped establish when songs would be sung.
It is known, for example, that the playwright had considered the possibility
of a major number for Rose after Gypsy’s strip number as early as about May
1958.18 Laurents wrote the entire book before Robbins saw it, allowing him to
ignore the director’s conception that Gypsy should be an homage to vaudeville
and burlesque. Instead, Laurents concentrated on relationships between the main
 The orchestration of Gypsy 137
characters. Robbins hired vaudeville and burlesque performers to execute his
vision, but Laurents saved cuts he needed to make in the book scenes as a bar-
gaining chip to make sure that Robbins jettisoned most of the vaudeville and
burlesque material.19
Styne and Sondheim formed an unlikely team. As Sondheim has stated, “Jules
Styne and I were not only a generation apart, we were different species, coming as
we did from different musical theater traditions, he the spontaneous ‘tunesmith,’
as he called himself, and I the austere revolutionary.”20 Yet form a team they did,
Styne open to Sondheim’s penetrating suggestions on how they might write for
characters and dramatic situations. For his part, Styne resolved to be collegial:
“Knowing that Steve wanted to write the whole score, I decided that I would never
pull rank on him.”21 Laurents observed that Sondheim “worked better with Jule
than he had with Lenny [Bernstein], and pushed him to write an historic score.
More than pushed, helped, Jule said; without Steve, the music would not have
been that good.”22 Styne has affirmed the strength of their collaborative process:

The show felt good, even while Steve and I were creating it. I know I was
creating work that I’d never done before. Marvelous lyrics came to me from
Steve. When you write with him, you actually feel good as a composer. He
places value on the music, what kind of word fits each note … And he doesn’t
put the full value on the rhyme, like most lyricists. The thought is the main
thing with Steve. In most cases, I wrote the music first, and then he wrote the
lyrics. Steve said that the music must set the character as well as the words.23

In an example of the conflicting counterpoint that often develops in histories

derived largely from interviews, Sondheim has said that he usually wrote the lyr-
ics first, even providing possible rhythms for a song’s melody; the exception was
the vaudeville numbers, where the music came first.24 As is often the case, the
truth surely lies somewhere in the middle, as may be seen in clashes between
Styne and Sondheim about using some of the composer’s trunk songs in Gypsy,
meaning tunes cut from other projects. Sondheim believed that they could bet-
ter capture the needed characterization and affect with freshly composed mate-
rial but, as will be seen below in descriptions of individual songs, they did find
tunes in Styne’s bottom drawer that Sondheim wrote lyrics for, and, in the case of
“You’ll Never Get away from Me,” the composer put one over on his collaborator
because the tune had appeared with lyrics in another project. This situation will
be described in detail below.
It is a tribute to Sondheim’s gifts that he was able to inspire Styne as a com-
poser in a way that perhaps he had not felt on other projects, but Styne’s wont
was to write songs that he could imagine popular singers performing. He was,
for example, the composer of numerous numbers recorded by Frank Sinatra and
knew the singer well. As they worked on “Small World,” where Sondheim placed
a lyric about Rose having children, Styne remarked that Sinatra would never sing
that, but Sondheim didn’t change the lyric.25 (After the show opened, the lyricist
wrote another version of the song that anyone could record. Johnny Mathis had
138 The orchestration of Gypsy
a hit with “Small World” in that form.26) Sondheim was shocked at how easily
Styne wrote songs; in 1985, Sondheim stated:

he has one of the most—if not the most—fertile musical minds that I have
ever met … He is an ideal collaborator from that point of view, because he is
totally flexible and because he can see sixty-four solutions at a time. If any-
thing, the problem is choosing.27

Styne was more likely to write a completely different melody when someone
disliked a song, rather than to edit what he had already composed. When asked
how he thought he might have influenced Styne as a composer during their col-
laboration, the lyricist stated that he encouraged him to rewrite his material: “Jule
was a very sophisticated musician, but he had never been called on to use his
musical training, whatever it was, so the rewriting [laughs]: that was a revela-
tion!”28 Sondheim said this in 2017, long after Styne might have been able to offer
an opinion on the subject, but, as shown above, the composer himself admitted
that the collaboration’s results constituted a new form of expression for him, so
maybe he did realize for the first time that he could revisit his work and find new
solutions.
The composer and lyricist shared songs with Laurents as they became avail-
able. The book writer has reported that Styne was not offended if he objected to a
song, “but he wanted to know specifically what I didn’t like and why.”29 Laurents
apparently lacked veto power over songs, because he told the composition team
that he disagreed with them about “You’ll Never Get away from Me,” finding
“the tune … undistinguished and the lyric didn’t go much of anyplace.”30 The
song, however, remained in the score. They also shared songs with Robbins, both
on tape and in person. Robbins was not fond of “Little Lamb” from the moment
that he heard it,31 and, as will be shown below, he tried to cut it from the show
during rehearsals. One of the more memorable moments in the creation of Gypsy
took place when Laurents and Sondheim were with Robbins in Manchester,
England, for the out-of-town try-out of the West End version of West Side Story.
Sondheim sang “Everything’s Coming up Roses” for Robbins, who missed the
point of the lyric. He said, “But her name is Rose. I mean, everything’s coming
up Rose’s what?” Sondheim promised that he would find another title if anyone
was ever confused about the character’s name and his now famous line, but the
situation did not arise.32 Styne and Sondheim shared “Rose’s Turn” with the cast
in early March 1959 once they had completed the song. John Kander remembers
Sondheim’s singing of the number as the best performance that he ever heard of it
and Jack Klugman reports that he “bawled like a baby.”33
Styne wrote Rose’s numbers expressly for Merman. He had served as a sub-
stitute vocal coach for Merman when her show Red, Hot and Blue was in its
out-of-town try-out in New Haven in fall 1936. He stated in 1985: “From that, I
knew a lot about Ethel’s voice and where it was.”34 He declared to his biographer
Theodore Taylor: “No one can write better for Merman than I can.”35 Styne ampli-
fied on this notion to Craig Zadan: “I knew all the time that Merman was well
 The orchestration of Gypsy 139
taken care of … I had all those good notes for her … When you write for a star
you’ve got to take in what the star has to offer.”36 The composer further explained
himself in two New York Times articles from years after the show, one stating that
when writing for Merman, “you can’t disappoint the audience. You’ve got to let
them hear her make one of those two notes.”37 These would have been what some
in show business call “money notes,” where the singer’s voice really blossoms.
Three years later, Styne was more specific: “So in the number ‘Some People’ I
wrote that ‘BUT I’ – which would make an open sound over the whole theater.”38
He refers to long notes, like on “I” and “try,”39 moments where Merman, sing-
ing in her best range, could sit on a pitch and turn it into one of those clear,
clarion calls that were so much a part of her appeal. One finds numerous exam-
ples of these powerful gestures in Rose’s three biggest numbers: “Some People,”
“Everything’s Coming up Roses,” and “Rose’s Turn.” Styne also noted that he
understood when Merman might need less demanding moments in a song, as
may be seen when Robbins suggested that they use a melody he knew Styne had
written for High Button Shoes, called at the time “In Betwixt and Between,” a
lyric by Sammy Cahn. Styne agreed and used the tune in “Everything’s Coming
up Roses,” but said that the song needed “a new and easy release … because
Merman had to rest on it.”40 Sondheim might have been learning to write for a star
in Gypsy, but as Styne said: “It was I who was catering to her voice.”41
Merman’s importance as a singing presence in Gypsy has never been disputed;
how various creators perceived her work as an actor varied considerably. Laurents
said, “Ethel Merman was a voice, a presence, and a strut, not an actress.” He also,
however, admitted that her personality fit the role well.42 Laurents reports that
Sondheim once referred to her as a “talking dog,”43 but in later years Sondheim
expressed his admiration for her ability as a low comic and sense of timing, mak-
ing her a better actress than he had anticipated.44 Gerald Freedman, the assistant to
Robbins who was responsible for helping the actors with things that Robbins was
less comfortable with, coached Merman extensively and found her eager to learn
and thought she displayed “great acting” in “Rose’s Turn.”45
The individual numbers of Gypsy, described in detail below, form part of an
integrated score. Although not filled with leitmotifs, there is prominent material
shared between numbers. The main repeated motive, “I had a dream,” stated at the
beginning and end of the “Overture,” also sounds in “Some People,” “Everything’s
Coming up Roses,” and “Rose’s Turn,” the final number based almost entirely on
material already heard in the score. The strip music, forming the most exciting
part of the “Overture,” returns in the “Gypsy Strip” and “Rose’s Turn,” in addi-
tion to the importance of burlesque tropes in “You Gotta Get a Gimmick.” The
song “Let Me Entertain You” also sounds several times in the show, moving
from the mouth of an innocent child in the vaudeville numbers to jaded teens in
“If Mama Was Married,” and finally to sexually suggestive in the “Gypsy Strip.”
Along with West Side Story, Gypsy helped launch Sondheim’s career, and the les-
sons he learned in these shows return throughout his output. He has spoken about
how he learned from Laurents the importance of subtext in song composition in
their discussions about Gypsy, especially in reference to “Some People.”46 The
140 The orchestration of Gypsy
show deepened Styne’s experience as a composer, perhaps helping to make pos-
sible some of the fine characterization one finds in the score to Funny Girl (1964),
his next big hit. Laurents walked away from West Side Story and Gypsy having
written two of the best books for Broadway musicals and took his understanding
of the genre into the director’s chair, later realizing thought-provoking produc-
tions of these two shows (including three of Gypsy) as well as La Cage aux Folles
(1983) and other shows.

The process: Ramin and Ginzler as co-creators of the score

Whereas the orchestration of West Side Story occurred through complicated nego-
tiations between the composer and two assistants, the same process for Gypsy
represented the Broadway norm. Jule Styne was a talented songwriter, but he
showed no signs during his career that he could have supervised a major project
in orchestration. As demonstrated in Chapter 2, Styne made use of various theater
orchestrators in his previous shows. When it came time to choose the people to
prepare his Gypsy score for the pit, he went to Sid Ramin and Robert Ginzler,
who had impressed him with their work on the studio recording of his music for
Say, Darling (1958). That job had come to Ramin through his association as an
arranger with RCA; he subsequently brought Robert Ginzler into the orchestra-
tion of Say, Darling, which had been scored for two pianos during the Broadway
run. In the process of working on two innovative Broadway orchestrations toward
the end of the 1950s, Ramin was a major influence on this craft in American
theater music. Our look at Gypsy’s orchestration will be approached through what
can be gleaned from the piano/vocal and short scores and orchestral partiturs,
described through representative examples and distinctive moments in the music.
This will start with the piano/vocal scores, where Ramin wrote suggestions, and
then we can evaluate how his ideas developed through the orchestral partiturs. We
can then extend the process to parts copied for the pit orchestra, a set of which
was made available for this study by the Styne Office. As will be shown, there
were changes between the partitur stage and these parts. A full orchestral score
has been assembled from those parts which have been used in describing the way
that orchestrations support characterization and dramatic impact.

Piano/vocal scores and short score

Ramin and Ginzler worked from piano/vocal scores of Styne’s songs. Available
sources concerning the show’s orchestration exist in the Sid Ramin Papers at the
Columbia University Archive, inventoried and described in basic terms in the
online “Finding Aid.”47 The collection includes the following songs in piano/
vocal scores in Flat Box 257, most of which are period copies of handwritten
manuscripts:

“You’ll Never Get away from Me”

“Together Wherever We Go”
 The orchestration of Gypsy 141
“Small World”
“Mama’s Talkin’ Soft”
“All I Need Is the Girl”
“Some People”
“If Mamma Was Married”
“The Cow Song”
“Let Me Entertain You” (as titled in “Finding Aid,” but in the source this title has
been crossed out and “Extra” entered in its place)
“Mr. Goldstone”
“You Gotta Get a Gimmick”
“Broadway”
“Mother’s Day”
“Little Lamb”
“Everything’s Coming up Roses”
“Smile Girls”
“Nice She Ain’t”
“Surprise!”

Lyrics and melodies in these versions for the most part approximate the final
stage of the songs, but keys changed as needed through the rehearsal process.
Styne’s accompaniments provided models for orchestrations, but there were
many changes and what one finds in the piano/vocal version of the show prepared
when parts were being made for the pit orchestra often includes a different piano
accompaniment.48 For example, Styne’s accompaniments in the versions listed
above usually double the melody—very often the case in published versions of
Broadway songs—but the later version of the accompaniments for piano show
more textural variety. Where Styne’s piano/vocal versions of the songs become
interesting for this study is in how one can observe that Ramin and Ginzler used
them while orchestrating. As noted in Chapter 2, Ramin asserted his leadership
over Ginzler. Suskin suggests that Ramin might have led their work when they
collaborated on The Milton Berle Show.49 Ramin later regretted this choice for
Gypsy, but it was an important aspect of their working dynamic on the show. The
description in the “Finding Aid” notes that some of these manuscripts include
notes in Ramin’s hand concerning orchestration; it is these markings that will
begin our discussion of their process.
Orchestrators with the skill that Ramin and Ginzler possessed did not require
an intermediate step between the piano/vocal score and the orchestral score,
but there is one such source in Ramin’s papers from Gypsy: a short score for
“Everything’s Coming up Roses” (Flat Box 257, Folder 15), probably in Ramin’s
hand. It is difficult to know how it might have been used, but it includes several
ideas that do not appear in the song’s final version. The short score is mostly in
three lines with the vocal line on top—not unlike a piano/vocal score—but in
addition to the melody in the top stave one often finds chords and contrapuntal
lines. Ramin started with the famous refrain, “You’ll be…,” written with two
half notes rather than the familiar half note and quarter note following a quarter
142 The orchestration of Gypsy
rest. In the partitur, the original rhythm has been restored with a fermata over the
first note. A close comparison of Styne’s piano/vocal version with the short score
shows that in places Ramin changed the bass line and chords; these elements in
the partitur are closer to Styne’s version. Ramin wrote in a number of suggestions
for orchestration in red pencil in the short score, but comparison with the partitur
demonstrates that several were not final choices. For example, Ramin’s suggested
woodwind fill-ins in the short score tend to be triplets, while Ginzler (who wrote
most of the partitur) used eighth notes for fill-ins. An idea from the short score
that does appear in the partitur is for strings to mark the vocal rhythm on the half-
note triplets that Styne used for setting the song’s title. This unique short score in
the Gypsy manuscripts is a useful reminder that—as we found to be the case in
West Side Story—orchestration is not a linear process but rather one of continual
discovery.

Partiturs
The largest group of manuscripts in Ramin’s papers related to Gypsy is the par-
titurs. Like those for West Side Story, they represent an intermediate stage of
the process. They are often different than the orchestral parts because changes
occur during rehearsals that might not make it into all of the partiturs. There are
two sets of the scores at the Columbia University Archive. Ramin and Ginzler
wrote their orchestrations on onion-skin paper from which reproductions could
be made. The originals are found in Boxes 2 and 3 and the reproductions in Flat
Boxes 258 and 259. For the purposes of this study, it was possible to consult
all of the reproductions and photograph each page, but the originals were not
available to the public until late 2019, long after the archival work had been
accomplished for this study. My late discovery of the original, onion-skin par-
titurs came in February 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the archive
was open only to those associated with Columbia University. The archive’s staff
kindly provided scans of seven numbers from Boxes 2 and 3, allowing me to see
that the scores in Flat Boxes 258 and 259 are indeed reproductions from those
in the Boxes 2 and 3 and tend to be the sources where Ramin and Ginzler made
their changes as work progressed, but they also entered some changes into the
originals. For example, the original version of “Some People” (Box 2, Folder
4) actually includes the song’s lyrics, probably in Ramin’s hand, but the repro-
duction (Flat Box 258/3) does not, meaning that he wrote it in the original after
the reproduction had been made. Several of the reproductions bear changes in
red pencil that do not appear in the originals, especially the addition of parts
for either guitar or harp. “Ethel’s Entrance” (2/3), for example, has no guitar
part in the original, but one appears in the reproduction (258/2). Comparison of
the two types of manuscripts demonstrates that, for the most part, the reproduc-
tions were the working copies. The first and third pages of the reproduction of
“Ethel’s Entrance” bear paste-ups that do not appear in the original, but pages
2 and 4 to 23 are similar in both versions except for the new guitar part and a
few other new markings in the reproductions. Comparison of the originals and
 The orchestration of Gypsy 143
reproductions of “Mama’s Turn” (3/16, 259/32) and “All I Need Is the Girl” (3/1
and 2, 258/17) tell a similar story as “Ethel’s Entrance,” but the two versions of
“Some People” and “Small World” offer more complex relationships. “Some
People,” for example, includes the same paste-ups in both versions, and “Small
World” (2/6, 258/5) in the original includes material for June and Louise to sing
on pages for which no reproductions survive. Description of these changes will
appear below when we consider the orchestration of each song.
There were two versions of the score in use once they started orchestrating
Gypsy, usually identified by stamps from an inkpad for the “Production” and
“Conductor” copies. These indications appear on numerous manuscripts, usually
the reproductions that tended to be the working manuscripts, but sometimes the
originals also bear the designations. Presumably, the “Production” version of a
number would have been retained by Ramin and Ginzler. For several, “Conductor”
has been crossed off on the first page and “Production” entered in its place, prob-
ably meaning that changes had been introduced in the “Conductor” version and
that became the “Production” score, perhaps with a fresh version prepared for the
“Conductor.”
The partiturs illustrate many changes with paste-overs, additions in red pencil,
and notes crossed out and corrected. Dates appear irregularly in the partiturs but
tend to have been provided for major changes; often dates were written on both
the originals and reproductions. In “Mama’s Turn” (later called “Rose’s Turn”),
for example, one finds five dated changes from between 5 and 21 April in both
the original (3/16) and copied (259/32) versions of the partitur, evidence of that
important number’s lengthy development. Such evidence throughout the manu-
scripts indicates that Ramin and Ginzler worked on the partiturs between late
March and early May, before and during the rehearsals for a show that opened on
21 May 1959. Details of what was being done at that time appear in comments
and indications in the scores, confirming common issues in Broadway orchestra-
tion and a few special situations or notations. Making a song work for a particular
performer results in various types of changes. Transpositions to accommodate a
singer occur often while getting a musical on its feet and such designations for
copyists appear in the manuscripts, such as on the first page of “Ethel’s Entrance,”
where the instruction for the copyist is to transpose the song down one-half step
to D-flat major, which appears in both versions of the partiturs (2/3, 258/2). In
rehearsals it might become clear that a less secure singer needs doubling on the
melody to help reproduce it accurately, which seems to have been the case in
“You Gotta Get a Gimmick” (3/10, 259/26). The orchestrators added a doubling
of the vocal line in the second trumpet part for Electra, played by Chotzi Foley,
when the character starts to sing after demonstrating her version of a striptease.
Discoveries in rehearsals would have led to many changes in the partiturs, usu-
ally with no explanation as to what the problem might have been. Many written
comments in the scores, like others in this paragraph, are instructions to copyists,
but refer to the mechanics of their work, such as “(Dance) (Start New Line)” on
page 10 of “Ethel’s Entrance” or “Skip line” on page 14 in the reproduction of
the same piece. One can see how convoluted such instructions might become
144 The orchestration of Gypsy
given what appears in the right margin on page 8 of “Recitation and Military”
(258/7): “Copy 213 Thru 227 244 245 246 of CMRI/Segue As One To ‘Let Me’
Utility.” These are instructions with measure numbers for creating a transition
to “Let Me Entertain You,” which follows, but no extant manuscript with those
measure numbers would seem to be a likely source. There is a segment later in this
scene in the completed score called “Children’s Military Routine” (258/8), which
accounts for most of the abbreviation “CMRI.”
How to move from speaking to singing for Rose at the start of “Some People”
was difficult to resolve, as Stephen Sondheim has recounted in Finishing the
Hat.50 Rose is yelling at her father and then needs to start the song. The number’s
opening in the original (2/4) and reproduced (258/3) partiturs seems to reflect
changes made to address the problem. According to Sondheim, Ethel Merman had
refused to sing a verse at the beginning of the song in which she told Rose’s father
to “Go to hell,” a crudity that she believed would shock her fans. (The original
partitur includes cut material that tells a slightly different story. One finds a verse
that they excised and Rose condemning her father to perdition later in the song on
page 18, set to the “I have a dream” motive in a place where it sounds numerous
times.) The solution to the cut verse was the addition of orchestral chords before
the last few lines of her speech, deleting the verse, and diving right into the song’s
refrain. There are two versions of the partitur’s opening page. The first has whole
notes in the orchestra to underscore what Rose says, but another page placed over
that (after someone wrote “Rescore” on the first version) instead has quarter-note
stingers in the orchestra, a change added on 7 April that better reflects the charac-
ter’s level of agitation and is what sounded in the Broadway version. Along with
the stingers, the manuscript also includes a held note in the horn that provided
Merman with her starting pitch. (One also hears this in a recording of the final
Broadway performance on 25 March 1961.51)
Some questions in rehearsal affecting orchestrations apparently could not be
decided immediately, leading to the unusual note on page 5 of “Some People”
(258/3): “Fix Brass – But Not Yet.” A fascinating marking appears at the top of
a reproduced partitur for “Small World”: “Old (Recording)” (258/5). The version
of the song on the original cast recording (hereafter, “OCR”) is not what is in the
parts from the pit; the orchestral accompaniment on the recording is closer to what
is in this manuscript. This matter will be considered in more detail below in the
section on “Small World.”
Ramin sometimes wrote notes on the backs of partitur pages; all such notes
described here are from the reproduced scores where changes tended to be entered.
For example, among the extant materials for “Everything’s Coming up Roses”
(259/18), one finds a cryptic message to delete the woodwinds at an unspecified
point in “Small World,” a change that does not seem to appear in the score for that
work, but a version of that song that survives is marked “New” (found in 2/6 and
258/5). In that same list, Ramin recorded possible changes in “Mr. Goldstone”
and “You’ll Never Get away from Me,” the exact nature of each hard to decipher.
Some of the most fetching notes involve the musical character of pieces, such as
another of Ramin’s notes on the back of a partitur that was no longer in use for
 The orchestration of Gypsy 145
“Everything’s Coming up Roses”: “Together/fast beat in 4/Add flavor to Calypso
parts.” The song “Together” is marked alla breve and would be cumbersome to
count it in four. “Together” includes syncopation, like calypso, but at best it is a
very mild version of the dance from Trinidad and Tobago; the only touch in the
partitur (259/22a) that would have sounded vaguely Latin was the limited use of
maracas, which do not appear in the final percussion part consulted for this study.
(As will be demonstrated below, that percussion part was probably recopied while
Gypsy was on its post-Broadway tour.) The remainder of Ramin’s comments in
that list have to do with adding harp to “If Mama Was Married”; the question
about a harp part in the original Gypsy pit will be covered below. Another com-
ment concerning musical character appears in the indication “Rescore – Quasi
Pomp and Circ” on page 9 of “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” (259/26), when Electra
plays a syncopated version of “Reveille.” It is hard to know if the combination of
quarter notes in the woodwinds, trombones, and strings and eighth-note fill-ins in
the trumpets that Ramin and Ginzler wrote to accompany Mazeppa might have
sounded like Elgar to those in charge of the music.
Ramin’s leading role in the project largely determined how they split the
duties. As Suskin notes, Ramin tended to “map out” their work—meaning that
he wrote suggestions for orchestration in the piano/vocal scores—and Ramin
also notated a number of the major solos in the orchestration.52 In terms of their
strengths as arrangers, Ramin reported to Suskin that he was better at writing for
strings and trumpets while Ginzler excelled at writing for reeds and the rhythm
section.53 There are numerous pages of the partiturs that include the hands of
both men, often working in the instrumental sections where they felt most com-
fortable. Ginzler wrote faster than Ramin did, just like Kostal did in orchestrating
West Side Story. Ginzler’s hand appears more often than Ramin’s in the Gypsy
manuscripts, including in places where Ramin dictated parts to Ginzler, a process
he reported to Suskin.54 A close look at the scores demonstrates that Ramin wrote
most of the instrumental designations, when needed; the names of instruments
are printed in the left margins, usually except for the five reeds, which Ramin
added. He also tended to correct the scores. Suskin has studied the partiturs in
terms of which man copied each number.55 His findings can be summarized as
follows:

“All I Need Is the Girl”—Ginzler

“Baby June and Her Newboys”—Ginzler, except for Ramin writing the piccolo
solo on the parody of Stars and Stripes Forever
“Broadway”—Ramin and Ginzler
“Cow Recitation” and “Extra Utility”—Ginzler
“Curtain Music” and “Exit Music”—Ginzler
“Entr’acte”—mostly Ginzler
“Everything’s Coming up Roses”—Ramin and Ginzler
“Gypsy Strip Routine”—Ginzler with brass edits by Ramin
“If Momma Was Married”—Ginzler with some solos by Ramin
“Little Lamb Show Version”—Ginzler with two earlier versions by Ramin
146 The orchestration of Gypsy
“May We Entertain You” (called “Ethel’s Entrance” on manuscript)—song
mostly by Ginzler, underscoring by Ramin
“Mr. Goldstone”—Ramin and Ginzler
“Overture”—Ramin and Ginzler
“Mama’s Turn”—mostly Ginzler with some work by Ramin
“Seattle to Los Angeles”—Ramin
“Small World”—Ginzler and extended version mostly by Ginzler with Ramin on
some bridges and the utility music
“Some People”—mostly Ginzler with some work by Ramin
“Together”—mostly Ginzler with Ramin on some solos
“Toreadorables”—Ramin and Ginzler
“You Gotta Get a Gimmick”—Ramin and Ginzler
“You’ll Never Get away from Me”—mostly Ginzler with some work by Ramin

Suskin’s judgments on what each man wrote appear to be mostly accurate; ques-
tions can be raised, but such small, subjective details need not be debated here.
The manuscripts demonstrate work by both men and individual pages show evi-
dence of their collaboration. For example, page 9 of “Everything’s Coming up
Roses” (3/3 and 259/18, new version, dated 8–9 April) displays Ramin’s hand in
the reed instrumental designations at the top of the page, in the parts for horn and
trombone, and on the vocal line in both notes and lyrics. Ginzler wrote the reed
parts at the top of the page, contrasting with Ramin’s horn part right below them,
his hand especially obvious in the half-note triplets, observations that one can
confirm in Ramin’s three trombone parts in the middle of the page. String parts at
the bottom clearly resemble Ginzler’s notation in the reed parts. Another example
that illustrates the differences between their hands is page 1 of the “Overture” (2/2
and 258/1). Ginzler wrote for reeds and brass, the top 12 lines of the score. “Xylo”
and “Gong” are in Ramin’s hand, and he perhaps wrote the diamond-shaped notes
for the gong; he certainly notated the piano and string parts at the bottom. Ramin’s
hand is again bolder, somewhat larger and darker, and he also wrote the title and
the instrumental designations in the reeds. Their hands appear together on several
pages of the “Overture.”
The Ramin Papers include six other partiturs of short selections intended for
pre-recorded music in the show, found in Flat Box 247, Folders 1–6: “June Is a
Jew, So Change It to Clare,” “Zip My Stripper,” “The Bloozy Cool,” “Presto Bing
Flip,” “Figure 8 Waltz,” and “The Exotic Jerkoff.”56 They are mostly based on
blues or ragtime tropes. As Suskin states, the numbers were not heard in the show.
At least some of the selections were probably written for vaudeville and burlesque
acts that Robbins had hoped to include. The ironic, offensive title involving June’s
name reflects that June Havoc, sister of Gypsy Rose Lee, was reluctant to allow
herself to be portrayed in the show. For a time, the producers changed her name to
Clare to avoid legal issues, but, in the end, Havoc accepted a financial settlement
and the character again became June.57 The Styne Office made available a record-
ing of these pieces, which demonstrates that these partiturs did not represent the
final version of these numbers.
 The orchestration of Gypsy 147
Orchestral parts
The final set of sources are orchestral parts provided in PDFs by the Styne Office,
which is not certain whether they emanated from the Broadway run or the sub-
sequent tour, or both. Suskin simply states that they came from the Broadway
pit.58 This is probably the case, but there is more evidence in the parts themselves
that they were used on tour than in the original run. According to Suskin, pro-
ducer David Merrick had possession of the Gypsy orchestral materials after the
first tour ended in 1961. He donated trunks of music to the Library of Congress
in 1970, but Styne asked that the Gypsy materials be returned to him, probably
including these parts.59 Since they are the source for the full score used below to
describe the orchestra’s role in characterization and dramatic effect, it is impor-
tant to know the history and function of the set of parts, which can be approached
through marginalia scribbled by musicians and dates provided by copyists. The
parts were on the 1961 national tour, and they continued to be used in pits as late
as 1969. Dates from copyists show that the parts provide a snapshot of the show
at the end of the Broadway run. Through dates provided in the parts and other
evidence, one can assemble a chronology of continuing work on the score during
the show’s New York run, such as the transposition downward of Ethel Merman’s
songs after her vocal problems in August 1959. Close study of these sources
also illuminates preparation of the parts and that work on them continued on the
tour, which included stops in Rochester (29 March to 1 April), Detroit (3 to 15
April), Cleveland (17 to 22 April), Boston (three weeks ending 13 May), Toronto
(15 to 27 May), Chicago (29 May to 3 August), San Francisco (7 August to 30
September), and Los Angeles (early October to 25 November).60 Ethel Merman’s
tenure in the show ended with ten days at the American Theatre in St. Louis, clos-
ing December 9.61 The tour continued onto Denver with Mary McCarty in the role
of Mama Rose.
The 19 parts in the set include Reeds 1–5, two books of Trumpets 1–2 and
3, Trombones 1–3, Horn, Violins 1–3, Cello 1–2, and one book each for Bass,
Percussion, and Piano. (The parts also include a piano/vocal score prepared for
Styne; see endnote 48.) Names of several copyists with the cities where they
worked appear, meaning that these figures prepared originals of those pages.
Some copyists were members of AFM Local 802 in New York City, and many
pages are on manuscript paper from Philadelphia, probably produced there during
the out-of-town try-out. Other copying took place in Boston (a version of “Little
Lamb” prepared for an understudy during the tour) and more in Toronto; a copy-
ist’s name from Local 149 in that city appears stamped on many pages in the per-
cussion part, apparently recopied during the tour. The percussion part might have
changed substantially early in the tour, meaning that the full effect heard from the
Broadway pit has been lost.
Dates written by copyists demonstrate that the parts were prepared mostly
between March and August 1959, the latter representing numbers transposed
for Ethel Merman three months after Gypsy opened. Merman had throat prob-
lems and missed seven performances in August. Merman biographer Caryl Flinn
148 The orchestration of Gypsy
reports that, upon her return, Styne sent her a telegram: “Welcome back in any
key,” confirmation of the transpositions.62 In the Violin 3 part, a new version of
“Everything’s Coming up Roses” in B major, marked “MERMAN ALT. KEY,”
bears the date “8/21/59.” Dates from copyists reflect the score’s development
through the rehearsal and try-out period before the 21 May 1959 opening, and
into the latter part of the summer when they changed the keys for Ethel Merman’s
major numbers. Table 5.1 shows dates available in the piano part and other evi-
dence of changes made to numbers.
Wrestling with the keys for Merman’s songs continued after the opening with
“Some People,” “Small World,” “You’ll Never Get away from Me,” “Everything’s
Coming up Roses,” “Together,” and “Mama’s Turn.” Those in charge of the
show’s music placed each song in new, lower keys, mostly in the last third of
August. The remainder of the dates represented in Table 5.1 generally involve
bringing various numbers to final forms in the weeks before the opening, except
for a few instances, such as the need for a transposition down one-half step of “If
Mama Was Married” in October, perhaps after the producers fired Lane Bradbury
from the role of June.63 Also, for an unknown reason, one page of the final “You’ll
Never Get away – Utility” was changed on 25 June, but the remainder of the
changes—except for the August transpositions for Merman’s numbers—took
place before the New York opening. Thus, this set of parts mostly transmits the
Broadway score in its final developments—as noted above, an exception might be
the percussion part—in addition to some copying jobs done for the tour while in
Toronto and Boston, as noted above.
Dates written in marginalia in the Violin 3 part document use of at least some of
the parts from Broadway and for another eight years: “3/25/61,” the date the show
closed in New York; “4/9/61,” while playing in Detroit, and “9/6/69.” Marginalia
also demonstrate the use of the parts in several cities; for example, evidence from
Boston appears in Trombone 1 on the bottom of the first page, where one reads
“Bill Tesson, Boston, 1961,” apparently written by William Tesson, a trombon-
ist who enjoyed a long playing and teaching career in Boston in the second half
of the twentieth century.64 Other evidence exists for Los Angeles, St. Louis, San
Francisco, Detroit, and Toronto.
Given the profusion of pencil markings in the parts, it could be argued that
what copyists provided before reproduction cannot be called a completed part,
and orchestral musicians, working with the conductor, should be regarded as final
arbiters as to what appears in each part at any given moment. Markings change as
needed in various renditions. Extensive markings in pencil by musicians demon-
strate how malleable music for Gypsy remained, especially in terms of articula-
tions, accents, dynamics, use of brass mutes, which instrument reed players used
for various passages, cuts in songs, and string bowings.
The partiturs in the Ramin Papers at Columbia provide extensive documenta-
tion of the music for Gypsy, but only for the rehearsal period. Many changes in the
music took place later, as may be seen in this set of parts, meaning that the score
prepared from them perhaps might not be definitive, but it is much closer to a final
version of the show than the partiturs. There is another set of rental parts for the
 The orchestration of Gypsy 149

Table 5.1 Evidence of dates and changes made to numbers in piano part for Gypsy

Name of number Date and other comments

“Ethel’s Entrance” 3/18/59
“Some People” 8/20/59 appears with title and 8/21 appears on
pp. 4 to 13
“Seattle to Los Angeles” Marked “Merman Alt. [Key]”
“Small World – New” 8/24/59
“Baby June and the Newsboys – I” 4/7/[59]
“Baby June and the Newsboys – Part II” 4/19/59 appears with title and 4/8 on p. 2
“Recitation and Military” 5/4/[59]
“Goldstone to Lamb” Marked “Understudy Key”
“Little Lamb – F” Marked “Understudy Key”
“You’ll Never Get away from Me” Marked “Merman Alt. Key” and dated 8/25/59
“Farm Sequence I” Marked “New 4/29/[59]” and on pp. 4–6 dated
6/24/[59]
“Broadway” On page 7 marked “New – 4/8/[59]” and on p.
8 “Transp. 4/23/[59]”
“If Mama Was Married” Marked “New 4/24/[59]” and on p. 5
“New – 4/7/[59]”
“All I Need Is the Girl – Part II” Marked “New – 4/7/[59]” and on p. 8
“New – 4/8/[59]”
“[Everything’s] Coming up Roses” 8/21/59
“Entr’acte” 5/7/[59]
“Toreadorables” On p. 4 dated 4/30/59
“Together” Marked “Merman Alt. Key”
“Together Tag (New)” Marked “Merman Alt. Key” and dated 8/24/59
“You Gotta Get a Gimmick” Marked “New 4/8/[59]”
“Small World – Reprise” Marked “Merman Alt. Key” and dated 8/24/59
“Gypsy Strip” On p. 4 dated 5/6/[59] and on p. 7 5/13/[59]
and on p. 8 5/7/[59]
“Mama’s Turn” Marked “Merman Alt. Key”
“Act II – Curtain” 4/27/[59]
“If Mama Was Married” [in G rather 10/13/[59]
than in A-flat]
“Little Lamb” 5/7/[59]
“You’ll Never Get away – Utility” On p. 3 dated 6/25/[59] and on p. 4 5/6/[59]

Note: All dates are presumed to have been in 1959 and placed in square brackets when no year appears
in the part.

show at the Library of Congress, but these could not be closer to the show’s crea-
tion than those supplied by the Styne Office that were probably used on Broadway
and certainly on the first national tour.

Observing the process of orchestration

We now observe the process of Gypsy’s orchestration from the piano/vocal score
through the partitur and finally to the parts copied for the pit orchestra, using the
song “All I Need Is the Girl” as a case study and referencing some material from
150 The orchestration of Gypsy
other numbers. A blank page in the piano/vocal score of this representative song
includes a most revealing document. On the verso of page 9, one finds in Ramin’s
hand three lists of numbers in the score (see Figure 5.1), most titles in the first
list preceded by timings. The next two lists, separated by long lines, are shorter
and bear no timings. The first includes the following themes or songs, with tim-
ings provided here in parentheses: “I Had a Dream” (1’), “Everything’s Coming
up Roses” (1’30”), “You’ll Never Get away from Me” (50”), “Cow Song” (30”),
“Together” (1’), “Small World” (1’20”), “Gypsy Strip” (30”), “Goldstone” (50”),
and “I Have a Dream” (20”). This is surely the list of ideas for the overture that
Ramin and Ginzler wrote as their first number. (This was an unusual choice
because they could not have known at that point what tunes might be deleted from
the show, but Ramin later insisted that he didn’t know any better and thought they

Figure 5.1 C
 olumbia University Archive, Sid Ramin Papers, Flat Box 257, Gypsy, “All I
Need Is The Girl,” piano/vocal score, p. 9, verso, no music, in Ramin’s hand.
 The orchestration of Gypsy 151
should start at the top.65 Ginzler, with more Broadway experience, surely would
have known to object; that he did not would seem to indicate that Ramin was truly
the dominant personality.) Ramin’s list describes the original “Overture” rather
well, including the timings; Styne removed the “Cow Song” and “Together” when
he decided that the piece was too long.66 Ramin’s scrawl is difficult to read; he
tended to print but also connected letters like one does when writing a script. The
list also includes comments on musical characters that can be deciphered for some
of these sections: “vaudeville feel” for “Cow Song,” “now [?] slow” for “Small
World,” first time “burlesque” and second time “bigger [somehow]” on “Gypsy
Strip,” and the final use of “I Had a Dream” should be in a “vaudeville flavor
(violin + piano)” and then “brilliant.” These descriptions match what one hears
in the orchestra with “Small World” and “Gypsy Strip,” and the final statement
of the “I Had a Dream” motive temporarily bears the sound of vaudeville (but
not with violin and piano) and ends with a bang. There is a story that suggests
Styne’s participation in fashioning the high, improvisatory moment for the second
trumpet in the overture’s strip music: Styne’s biographer, Theodore Taylor, states
that the composer wrote the chord symbols in for the trumpeter, but this cannot be
confirmed in extant documentation.67 Ramin’s other two short lists include num-
bers found in the “Bows” and “Exit Music” and might represent thoughts on these
medleys, but they are not as close to the final versions of these movements as one
notes between the first list and the “Overture.”
There is a wide range in terms of the number of orchestration suggestions that
Ramin made for each tune in the piano/vocal scores, as may be appreciated from
the following survey of the manuscripts (considered in the order that these manu-
scripts appear in Flatbox 257 at the Columbia University Archive):

“You’ll Never Get away from Me”—numerous markings, including indica-

tions for glissandi, suggested rhythms for a fill-in on a long note at mm.
75–76 (different than what is now in the parts), notations about tempo
changes, and Ramin wrote out a new ending including seeds of the final
version.
“Together Wherever We Go”—numerous suggestions of possible fill-in
gestures and even countermelodies, some that were used, such as in cellos
starting at m. 8 and violins in mm. 49–50. Several rhythms in accompaniment
and fill-ins also suggested, some that appear in the final version.
“Small World—there are two strongly contrasting versions of the piano/
vocal score with only two orchestral indications in the newer version: “vc”
indicating that cellos should double the melody in m. 12 and a rallentando
in m. 47.
“Mama’s Talkin’ Soft”—a number of signs showing accents and beats
that should not be stressed, the meaning of which already seems clear from
the meter.
“All I Need Is the Girl”—many markings in terms of instruments to be
used, suggestions for fill-ins, and description of an affect, treated below as a
case study.
152 The orchestration of Gypsy
“Some People”—Ramin wrote more in this number than any other, pro-
viding suggested rhythms for fill-ins, substantially altering some of Styne’s
accompaniment (including rhythms in the vocal line), and adding contrapun-
tal lines. Representative moments are considered below.
“If Mama Was Married”—in places expression marks emphasize the
waltz meter and Ramin wrote in wavy lines in mm. 59–60 and 67–68, prob-
ably suggesting the rapid scales in violins used in the orchestration (one dou-
bled by a glissando in the bells) as June and Louise sing “Momma” (spelled
differently in the lyrics than in the title).
“Cow Song”—Ramin wrote nothing in this number, perhaps because its
intentional simplicity and the song’s cloying quality suggested an obvious
treatment.
“Let Me Entertain You” (crossed out with “Extra” provided as a new
title)—Ramin only wrote a few accents.
“Mr. Goldstone”—Of the four parts of the song that Styne wrote, the first
three appeared in the show. In those manuscripts, Ramin only marked in a
few accents and tempo changes. In Part 4, over the main theme of this song
set as a march, he wrote in elaborate scale passages in mm. 1–6, perhaps for
high woodwinds, in addition to a few other notes.
“You Gotta Get a Gimmick”—Ramin suggested several fill-ins, such as
a countermelody that appears in the Reed 5 book played on bass clarinet in
mm. 3–4 and another line added in the reeds in m. 9. Several notated addi-
tions in m. 38 resulted in triplet fill-ins for the three trumpets, an idea that
Ramin wrote here in eighth notes. At m. 105, where Tessie the ballet stripper
does her dance to a violin solo, Ramin wrote that the accompaniment should
include “simple chords.” In mm. 124 and 128, he suggested “tom-toms” for
bumps and grinds, a gesture that appears in the show. Ramin provided four
measures of what sound like closing gestures for the song in space left at the
end of the piano/vocal score, but neither that nor what Styne wrote actually
concludes the song in its final version.
“Broadway”—Ramin provided few markings in this number, clearly
a work in progress. At m. 34, he wrote “Piano Break” for a section later
excised. At m. 41, Ramin appears to have written “S + S melody,” probably
suggesting that the reference to Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, which
sounds at the end of the number, might be inserted earlier. Among other nota-
tions that indicate other possibilities for the song, Ramin wrote “Cow Song”
at m. 191, during Sousa’s famous melody.
“Mother’s Day”—a number that was cut and does not appear to have
reached the orchestration stage, but Ramin did include some suggestions,
including “Hymn chords” at the end of this sappy, ironic song.
“Little Lamb”—all Ramin wrote in this number were a few indications of
dynamics and some quarter notes that would be high in a treble instrument’s
range five measures before the end, but nothing like that appears in the fin-
ished parts.
 The orchestration of Gypsy 153
“Everything’s Coming up Roses”—Ramin wrote almost nothing in this
important song but did prepare the short score version described above.
“Smile Girls”—a number cut from the show that probably was not orches-
trated, but Ramin did mark in accents, circle some notes, and suggest a fill-in.
Fascinating notations surviving on page 6 appear not to be in Ramin’s hand,
apparently written while Robbins worked on a dance for the song. Some
melodic snippets appear in pencil with corrections in red and ideas about
what to do while one of the daughters does the splits. Among other phrases,
one reads “Cont[inue] Vamp Bring in Tymp [sic] roll during split on cue
from Ethel letter M” and “keep rhy[thm] / under split (4 bars).” To the left
towards the bottom one sees a possible rhythm to set the phrase “+ when you
do a split.” This is evidence of the kind of session that a dance arranger (or
perhaps orchestrator) had to work through during rehearsals.
“Nice She Ain’t”—a deleted number that was not orchestrated.
“Surprise!”—a deleted number that was not orchestrated. This is the only
extant piano/vocal score that is actually in Styne’s hand.

Ramin did not provide with his markings a complete guide to the orchestration
of any of these numbers. As shown above, Ginzler prepared the orchestral score
for “All I Need Is the Girl,” meaning that Ramin probably wrote enough in the
piano/vocal score to document his main thoughts on what the song should sound
like from the pit. Ramin knew that Ginzler was capable of filling in anything
else. Representative markings will be considered below with descriptions of how,
or whether, Ramin’s indications finally got transferred to the instrumental parts.
Both the piano/vocal manuscript and partitur for “All I Need Is the Girl” were
prepared in two parts—the song and the dance. Ginzler’s orchestral version of
the dance does not appear in the reproduced partiturs (258/17), but there are two
versions of the dance in the original scores (3/1, 3/2).
Ramin’s notations in the piano/vocal part for “All I Need Is the Girl” include
suggestions for orchestration, fill-ins, and even some changes to what Styne wrote
for the song, as may be seen in Table 5.2, along with how Ginzler responded to the
recommendations in the partiturs.
Ramin provided a number of details in the piano/vocal score and those that
he wrote, for the most part, made it into the orchestration, but his markings do
not account for everything that Ginzler supplied in the partitur. Ramin’s general
call for “drums” and “clarinets” basically account for what happens in the first 24
measures—the piano part also plays at this point—but Ginzler worked out how
to distribute notes among the five reed books. It is notable that Ramin changed
Styne’s accompanimental rhythm in the left hand of mm. 26 and 28, showing
that they had license as orchestrators to alter things that the composer had writ-
ten. Ramin’s indications for when instruments should enter are often duplicated
in Ginzler’s partitur, and he more or less used the fill-ins that Ramin suggested,
but there are numerous examples of Ginzler striking out on his own, especially in
his harmonizations and orchestrations of Ramin’s melodic fill-ins and designing
Table 5.2 The process of orchestration as noted from Sid Ramin’s markings in the piano/vocal score of “All I Need Is the Girl” (257/50)
154

Mm. Ramin’s indication Ginzler’s reaction in partiturs (mm. 1–68 from reproduction [258/17]; mm. 69–158
from 3/2)
1 Probably wrote “Dr[um]” and Cl[arinet]s” Drums and piano open, flute and four clarinets enter in m. 5
24 Wrote “TRBS” at end of measure Three trombones enter there
25 Probably wrote “w[oodwind]s” Reeds play fill-ins in mm. 26, 28
26, 28 Opening rests changed from quarters to eighths and Made both changes
added eighth note of value to first note in measure
26 Probably wrote “2 cl[arinets]” One of three clarinets playing soon changes to flute
28 Probably wrote “to Fl[ute]” Reed 2 changes to flute in m. 30
31 Descending wavy line under “need” in lyrics Sixteenth note runs in reeds, glissandi in violins and harp
32 Wrote “Slow tempo” Applies to next section in m. 33
The orchestration of Gypsy

33 Wrote “V[iolon]c[ello]” Cellos enter on melody

33 Wrote fill-in rhythm over melody Reeds play this rhythm in mm. 33, 35, etc.
39 Wrote in fill-in melody Uses melody in Reed 3 and harmonizes it homorhythmically in two other reeds and
three trumpets
41 Wrote in fill-in melody Uses melody in Reed 3 and harmonizes it homorhythmically in other reeds
43 Wrote in fill-in melody Uses melody in Reed 3 and harmonizes it homorhythmically in other reeds
45 Wrote in slash, perhaps for accent and two scoops Place for the singer to slow down and emphasize text (“time and…”) but Ramin’s
for non-accents marking not found in partitur; orchestra drops out after beat 1
47 Wrote “1” followed by wavy line Nothing
49 Wrote “Picc[olo]” and “TRBS + [perhaps] “b[ass] Piccolo enters in m. 50, trombones and Reed 5 (on bass clarinet) play fill-ins in mm.
c[larinet]” 49, 51, 53
55 Wrote “low w[ood]w[ind]s” Triplet flourish on “whirl” in piccolo and flute, so not in “low” woodwinds
56–58 On fourth beat of m. 56 wrote “str[ings]” with slur Violins enter, joining cellos, starting a few mm. of lush strings that extend to m. 59,
that extends to end of m. 58 beat 1
59 Perhaps a slash for accent, scoop for non-accent, and Like m. 45, place for singer to slow down; orchestra again drops out after beat 1
backward slash
61 Prob. wrote “original effect”; also slashes and scoops Analogous to mm. 41, 43 and orchestration is similar
appear over vocal line to delineate accents
65 Wrote in fill-in melody Uses melody in Reed 3 and harmonizes it homorhythmically in other reeds

69 “Dance” begins and music changed a great deal Indications demonstrate how the character Tulsa describes the dance on the OCR;
from piano/vocal part to orchestral parts changes in choreography necessitated alterations that Ramin wrote in piano/vocal
score
69 Added sharp to f’ in piano part and probably wrote Accidental appears in trumpet part; trumpets and trombones enter—music
“Tbns” accompanies Tulsa’s opening tap sequence
91 Wrote “Harp” Harp enters on notes found in chords in piano/vocal score—Tulsa announces that his
female partner appears in a white dress
92 Wrote “Harp, el[ectric] g[uitar], vibe” No guitar part extant in partitur for the dance section; melody added in percussion
part for vibraphone and also heard in piano and strings
95 Wrote “V[iolon]c[ello] + E[nglish] H[orn] + H[or]n” These instruments carry the melody starting in m. 96—starts as Tulsa announces that
he leads his partner to the dance floor
97–98 Wavy line across both staves Refers to two-handed glissandi in harp from mm. 96–103
104–05 Ascending wavy line across bar line Harp glissando that ends on downbeat of 105—Tulsa announces a dance step that
complements her costume
106–07 Ascending wavy line across bar line Harp glissando that ends on downbeat of 107
110–11 Probably wrote “sub[ito] p[iano]” in m. 110 and “no No dynamic marking in score and no rhythmic or tempo suggested by place where
pulse” written across bar line into 111 song slows down (analogous to mm. 45–46)—Tulsa sings along expressively
with the melody on vocables, a moment of repose in the dance
112 Wrote “pulse” No designation in score but this is where the song’s A melody re-enters transformed
to triple meter—Tulsa announces that they will waltz
118–19 Eighth-note fill-ins provided Ginzler added the fill-in and harmonized it in reeds, starting with an eighth rest—
characteristic fill-in for a long note in a waltz
122 Wrote “rall[entando]” Marking appears in score
124–25 Ascending wavy line across bar line Harp glissando and similar gestures in reeds and violins—Tulsa announces the first
of three lifts for his imaginary partner
125 Perhaps wrote “breathy” Violins have tremolo with rapid alternation between two pitches—part of orchestral
effects around the lifts
The orchestration of Gypsy

126–27 Ascending wavy line across bar line with “piano” Harp glissando and similar gestures in reeds and violins—Tulsa announces the
written above bar line second of three lifts
(Continued)
155
 156

Table 5.2 Continued

Mm. Ramin’s indication Ginzler’s reaction in partiturs (mm. 1–68 from reproduction [258/17]; mm. 69–158
from 3/2)
127 “Beat” written in and designated for third pulse Chord added on third beat in piano, percussion with quarter note tied across the bar
of measure with ascending wavy line written in strings and reeds—no glissandi added in this measure
through bar line into the margin (last measure on
page)
128 Measure missing in piano/vocal score but sketched Harp glissando and similar gestures in violins—Tulsa announces the third of three
The orchestration of Gypsy

in at top of p. 8 with ascending wavy line across lifts

bar line
129 Wrote in “Debussy” Shimmering effect with tremolo in violins and high eighth notes in bells and piano in
mm. 128–29, with harp chord in m. 128—suggesting a slow descent for the third
lift
133 Illegible indication “Slower” indicated in manuscript in m. 132 as meter changes to alla breve—Tulsa
announces that the tempo changes
135 “Accel[erando]” indicated Written in mm. 133–34
137 “Brass” indicated with “t” written in m. 139 Trumpets enter in m. 137 and remainder of brass in m. 139—Tulsa announces that
all of the lights come up
141 “Hold Back” crossed out in score with illegible Nothing notated in manuscript—Tulsa calls to Louise to join him in the dance finale
indication and shouts instructions to her for remainder of dance
147–53 Ramin added chord symbols in mm. 147, 149, 151, Harmonies appear in manuscript to support new ending for the dance with sixteenth
and 153, changing some of the chords provided in notes in violins starting in m. 145, changing to triplets in violins and reeds in m.
Styne’s piano/vocal score 155 just after Tulsa calls out “Turn!” to Louise

Note: In places, Ramin’s markings are difficult to read, but suggestions have been provided.
 The orchestration of Gypsy 157
the exact nature of flourishes in mm. 31 and 55. Comparison of Ginzler’s parti-
tur with the pit parts demonstrates that most of what he wrote remained in the
orchestration. Copyists switched Reed 1 and 2 parts and there survives no harp
or guitar part, which seems to be combined in the partitur, with a few idiomatic
moments written for harp but mostly just the chords marked in for a guitarist to
play. Ramin’s markings for the dance portion indicate many of the orchestration’s
special effects and, as expected, closely correlate with the choreography, but it
is fascinating to be able to document the collaboration between the choreogra-
pher Robbins, probably the dance arranger John Kander (not obvious in these
manuscripts), and the orchestrators. The dance obviously changed a great deal in
rehearsals, necessitating the wholesale alterations of Styne’s piano/vocal score
that appear in Table 5.2.
Ramin’s most evocative notation in the piano/vocal score of “All I Need Is the
Girl” is when he wrote “Debussy” in measure 129. As noted in Table 5.2, Tulsa
continues to narrate the action after his imaginary partner joins him in the dance.
In the measures before 129 he says that he lifts her three times, the last in 128,
a magical moment when descending gestures include sounds that might appear
in Debussy’s orchestral music: a descending eighth-note passage in bells and
tremolo violins over a G7 chord with added second and fourth in the cellos and
passing tones in the shimmering eighth notes (OCR, track 11, 3’38”ff). Ginzler
fleshed the harmony out from what Styne had provided in the piano/vocal score,
basically combining what appeared in measures 129–30. Ramin also notated that
there should be an extra measure added that became 128, probably necessitated
by Robbins’ choreography.
All of these references to harp parts in “All I Need Is the Girl” and the addi-
tion of guitar parts to the reproduced partiturs described above raise an important
question: did the original Gypsy pit orchestra include a harp or guitar? The orches-
tral parts supplied by the Styne Office include neither instrument. As noted above,
another source made available by the Styne Office is a recording of the show’s
final night on Broadway, 25 March 1961.68 The fidelity is adequate, allowing one
to hear the pit orchestra and singers pretty well, making possible numerous com-
ments later in this chapter concerning the original Broadway version. The balance
of the orchestra varies in quality, obviously depending on what instruments were
closest to the microphone, but harp glissandi and other effects should be audible.
Jay Dias assembled a harp part from the Ramin collection partiturs for the Lyric
Stage production of Gypsy in Dallas in September 2011.69 Comparison of that
harp part with the 1961 Broadway recording of the show’s last night in New York
reveals no harp part to be heard, no matter how important the line seems to have
been. Glissandi are played by violins, flutes and other woodwinds, glockenspiel,
or piano, and other parts are redistributed to appropriate instruments. Dias assem-
bled a guitar part from the partiturs, but that instrument also is not to be heard
in the Broadway pit. It would seem that the original Gypsy pit orchestra lacked
plucked string parts, at least by the last night of the run. It should be noted that
one does hear harp prominently on the OCR, where the presence of guitar is far
158 The orchestration of Gypsy
more difficult to verify, but orchestrations on such a recording are often somewhat
different than what one heard in the theater.
A possible piece of advice on orchestration that might have come from Jule
Styne appears in measure 63 of the piano/vocal score of “Goldstone Pt. 3,” where
the manuscript’s copyist—not Ramin—wrote “(TUTTI).” Presumably, the other
musical instructions on these manuscripts came from the composer, who prob-
ably worked with the copyist. Such an indication also appears in “You Gotta Get
a Gimmick,” where the copyist wrote “Violin” for the solo line in Tessie’s dance
during the number, an ironically sweet passage for this stripper, who effects ballet
postures between her bumps and grinds.
A full consideration of everything that Ramin wrote in the piano/vocal scores is
unnecessary, but several moments in other songs demonstrate aspects of the types
of situations that developed in this project. Ramin confirmed the overall process at
the top of “Together Wherever We Go,” where he wrote “(PENCIL ADDITIONS
FOR ORCHESTRATION).” On pages 4–5 of the piano/vocal manuscript for
“Small World,” one finds an indication concerning changes made in the song in
reaction to discoveries in rehearsals. In measures 44–45, Ramin wrote that two
bars should be added, “set melody to come” (surely something that Styne needed
to compose), and then at the top of the page he wrote six measures of music from
the song. At this place in the show are seven measures of underscoring for dialog,
but the writers later decided to use another part of the tune than what Ramin
wrote. The song changed a great deal in other places with a duet between Louise
and June deleted that appeared in what was designated “Part III.” The music from
the duet came from the song “Mama’s Talking Soft,” a piano/vocal score of three
pages with no indications of orchestrations written on it.70 Passages of this deleted
material appear orchestrated in one of the original partiturs (2/6).
“Some People” is another revealing song for which to compare Ramin’s
markings in the piano/vocal manuscript with the partitur. He provided numerous
fill-ins during rests and long notes for the song (e.g., mm. 65–68), several of
which they used and others that do not appear in the orchestral parts. In meas-
ures 76–78, he suggested the distinctive use of trumpets, oboe, and piccolo (flute
plays it in the final version) to imitate Rose’s statement of the “I had a dream”
motive. (Ramin removed all doubt of the intention by writing “ECHO” for each
instrumental entrance.) What is written to indicate trumpet is “Harmons,” the
type of mute; in the finished trumpet part for the pit, there is no recommendation
for a mute here. Ramin made changes in the rhythm of the vocal part in mm. 75
and 87, where Styne notated that Rose should sing quarter-note triplets under “I
had a [dream],” but Ramin changed these to half-note triplets, matching what
the composer had written for the remainder of the line. (As described below in
the section on this song, Sondheim discovered that Styne seemed to have dif-
ficulty notating the rhythm of half-note triplets.) Styne and his associates later
trimmed the song, excising some segments. This is yet another indication that,
even as the orchestration was being written, songs continued to be substantially
changed, part of the strikingly complex process of bringing a Broadway score
to opening night.
 The orchestration of Gypsy 159
Experiencing the Gypsy orchestrations
One experiences original Broadway orchestrations in their purest form during the
initial run in the theater. Later Broadway revivals might use the same orchestrations,
and that appears to have been the case in each revival of Gypsy in 1974, 1989, 2003,
and 2008. Original cast recordings are usually based upon the show’s orchestra-
tions, but there can be changes. For example, as will be shown below, on the Gypsy
OCR from 1959 orchestrations for the songs “Small World” and “You’ll Never Get
away from Me” are quite different than what was heard in the theater. The above-
mentioned live recording of the last night of the original Broadway run from 25
March 1961 was very useful in the research for this chapter, but that source is not
generally available and its uneven quality would not justify a commercial release.
A source that makes the original Gypsy orchestrations more accessible is the
DVD of the 1993 television production starring Bette Midler as Rose.71 Credits in
the production include the original orchestrations by Ramin and Ginzler (stated in
the closing credits as “Sid Ramin with Robert Ginzler,” re-establishing Ramin’s
primacy in the project in a way that he mostly stopped using after the original
production), original dance music arranged by John Kander, and additional dance
music by Betty Wahlberg. The only new, creative musical credit for the video
was “additional underscoring” by Michael Rafter, who also served as musical
director. It is an excellent realization of the show with a fine cast, starting with the
star whose name is above the title. Midler is a memorable Rose, fully realizing
the character’s conniving personality and manipulating everyone around her to
her own advantage. Cynthia Gibb is convincing as Louise as she transforms from
a gangly young woman to a beautiful, confident Gypsy Rose Lee. The musical
numbers are well sung and accompanied with sparkling readings of the origi-
nal orchestrations. Midler memorably renders each of Rose’s songs, emphasizing
their differences by effectively varying her tone and affect as needed, followed
beautifully each step of the way by the orchestra conducted by Michael Rafter.
Readers of the material below about each major number from Gypsy will find it
well worth their time to watch the songs on this video in addition to using the 1959
original cast recording.
Another worthwhile performance of the show available on DVD stars Imelda
Staunton in one of the most unhinged realizations of Rose one is likely to see.72
The credits list Ramin and Ginzler as the show’s original orchestrators and John
Kander as its dance arranger, but Nicholas Skilbeck and Tom Kelly provided
the arrangements for this version, which premiered at the Chichester Festival
Theatre in October 2014 and then played in the West End’s Savoy Theatre from
March to November 2015. The DVD shows the small size of the Savoy’s stage
and pit, which only allowed an orchestra of 14 musicians: keyboard, keyboard/
harp, drums, double bass, three trumpets, two trombones, one horn, and four reeds
(each playing a saxophone and other instruments). With no violins or cellos, this
orchestration sounds little like the original and seems rather puny in places like
the end of the overture and at the ends of “Everything’s Coming up Roses” and
“Rose’s Turn.”
160 The orchestration of Gypsy
The effect of orchestration: Characterization
and dramatic impact
Ramin and Ginzler, especially the latter, had both worked enough on Broadway
by the time they orchestrated Gypsy to know that their arrangements needed to
serve the show’s characters and plot. Gypsy takes place in the 1920s and 1930s,
describing a soundscape from a lower middle class, white world involving vaude-
ville and burlesque with accompaniments for Tin Pan Alley songs, novel effects
like those heard in vaudeville, and instrumental licks derived from jazz and blues,
including loud, brassy music that one might have heard in a strip joint whose
owner could afford an orchestra. It is a decidedly American soundscape that
would have felt nostalgic in 1959. Director Jerome Robbins wanted the entire
show to be about vaudeville and burlesque, but the emphasis changed as Laurents
and Sondheim realized that the story’s most interesting element was the unusual
relationship between Rose and her daughters. It became practical for orchestra-
tions of songs that involve the family or Rose’s relationship with Herbie, such
as “Small World,” “Little Lamb,” and “You’ll Never Get away from Me,” to be
more restrained with accompaniment by strings, subtle use of woodwinds, and
muted brass. Rose’s brazen personality matches up with the aggressive, brassy
sounds that describe her in energetic numbers, like “Everything’s Coming up
Roses” and “Rose’s Turn,” the latter also intended as a burlesque song. In this var-
ied score, each section of the pit orchestra helps describe characters and action as
Styne’s evocative music plays a major role in making Gypsy the memorable show
that it is. The following description of orchestration in Gypsy will concentrate on
its contribution to characterization and dramatic effect with the reader referred to
examples on the Broadway OCR.73 Some points in the score and its orchestration
will be clarified with the recording made on the Broadway run’s closing night.

“Overture”
Orchestration’s role in characterization and dramatic impact will for the most part
occur when a member of the cast sings, dances, or performs action with musical
underscoring, but our discussion begins in the “Overture,” where the audience
hears a number of the themes for the first time and receives a few strong impres-
sions of what the show will be about, especially its relationship to burlesque and
vaudeville. The beginning (OCR, track 1) foregrounds Rose’s “I had a dream!”
leitmotif in a fanfare from the trumpets after an opening cymbal roll. Further
development of the theme in the trumpets concludes with a strong entrance by the
remainder of brass and low strings, woodwinds, and piano. Fast notes in upper
strings and woodwinds (0’16”) provide a background to additional brass fanfare
figures to close the grandiose opening, contradicted immediately by a frolic of
descending scales in the trumpets (0’22”) and then trivialized by a vaudevillian
slide whistle, setting off a rapid trip through “Everything’s Coming up Roses”
with melody in the trumpets and violins. The initial accompaniment includes
descending glissandi in four of the reed parts, another touch of vaudeville. In the
 The orchestration of Gypsy 161
first time through the A section, when what would be the title text arrives, the
orchestra provides a strong crescendo. The first time through the A section also
includes a countermelody in the violins, a presence that becomes more significant
in the second trip through A (0’39”–0’55”) where violins and reeds answer the
tune’s distinctive syncopated gesture, adding to the frenetic excitement. Strings
and winds provide a harmonized treatment of the B section melody (0’55”ff) with
over-the-top, fill-in runs from the three trumpets, maintaining the prominence of
brass. Solo alto saxophone harmonized by brass take over when half-note triplets
enter the melody (1’04”ff), a satisfying change of timbre, just before the trum-
pets reclaim the theme as A recurs (1’06”ff). An active countermelody in flute,
clarinet, and violins makes this the most contrapuntal setting yet in the treatment.
Accented, ascending half notes in the brass then dominate (1’19”ff), interrupted
with bell-like interjections from the reeds and high piano (1’22”ff), foreshadow-
ing a gentler handling in the reeds and strings of the half-note triplets that close
the tune (1’25”), leading into a transitional section to “You’ll Never Get away
from Me.” The setting of this song (1’46”ff) is typical of Broadway overtures, a
ballad largely presented by strings and woodwinds with subtle fill-ins by trum-
pets, which then take center stage on melody and harmony at the end of the tune
(2’22”ff). The excellent workmanship that Ramin and Ginzler brought to the
“Overture” can be heard in the delightful transition to “Small World” with trum-
pets playing a bit of the new melody (2’37”ff), a flourish in the piccolo, trills in the
violins, and a contrasting melody in the horn. The new tune’s setting again sounds
like typical instrumental treatment of a Broadway ballad, the melody of the A
section presented by muted brass and B section by reeds and strings, perhaps an
intentional conventionality to make the burlesque music that rudely interrupts it
sound all the more striking.
Triplets suddenly explode from all brass except second trumpet (3’29”ff) as
reed players, now on their saxophones, join in the strip music with second and
third trumpets and trombones (3’32”ff), an orgy of dirty blues, broad ornaments,
wide vibrato, and flutter-tonguing in the trombones. At 3’43”, the second trum-
pet on the OCR dominates, taking over the introduction to the next statement
from the first trumpet, playing four quarter notes, each ending with a glissando,
and then conjunct triplets before the brass and reeds re-enter and restate the strip
music while the second trumpeter improvises a strikingly high solo, making use
of chord symbols in the part. Theodore Taylor, Styne’s biographer, states that the
composer told the second trumpeter Dick Perry (who had played with Tommy
Dorsey), “to stand up and blow the ceiling off.”74 At the first preview, the audience
started applauding while the trumpets played this section, unambiguously articu-
lating burlesque’s bawdy presence in the show. The “Overture” ends more con-
ventionally, with a transition to “Mr. Goldstone” (3’59”ff) and its presentation as
a Sousa-like march featuring brass and reeds (4’12”ff). The opening brass fanfare
on the “I had a dream” motive recurs (4’29”ff) followed by a flourish of closing
material (4’34”ff) that smacks both of vaudeville and Broadway glitz. From the
recording of the last night that the show played on Broadway on 25 March 1961,
one hears the audience hooting their approval during the high trumpet solo and
162 The orchestration of Gypsy
applauding after the strip music ended. They began to clap 10 seconds before the
overture ended and the ovation continued for another 15 seconds, only dying out
after Uncle Jocko started the first scene.
Suskin believes that the “Overture” to Gypsy helped usher in a new era of
Broadway orchestration, colorfully stating: “Compare this to any Bennett,
Walker, Royal, or Lang overture. Ramin and Ginzler took off the gloves, rolled
up their sleeves, oxygenated their reeds, and threw red meat to the brass sec-
tion.”75 Harold Prince observed: “Gypsy sounded different from the downbeat; the
overture sounded like nothing I ever heard before. It remains one of the best over-
tures I’ve ever heard; it’s there with Porgy and Bess.”76 Despite what has been
said about the Gypsy “Overture” since, it almost was cut from the show before
the first preview night in Philadelphia. Robbins disliked it and wanted it changed
to choruses of some of the major numbers, not unlike what it is, but presumably
Robbins wanted the wild strip music removed and perhaps a less colorful orches-
tration. Conductor Milton Rosenstock told Robbins he should let them perform it
once for an audience and see what happens. It went over well, but Robbins wasn’t
convinced. Styne did not allow it to be changed.77 Before the show opened in New
York City, the theater’s pit level was too deep for the orchestra to be heard well.
When the promised platform to raise the ensemble failed to materialize, Styne
brought in barstools for each of the musicians.78 (Most likely, the cellists did not
use barstools!)

“Let Me Entertain You” (“Ethel’s Entrance”)

This number includes the first version of the ubiquitous song that appears in vari-
ous versions in the children’s act and later in the “Gypsy Strip.” That the song
sticks around throughout the show was part of a running joke concerning Rose’s
frugality, showing that she simply will not pay for new music. Sondheim wrote
the lyrics so they could sound appropriate for children but then have another
meaning when it becomes strip music.79 This first time on the OCR the song
sounds as Ethel Merman calls out to the children as they perform, the instruments
lightly scored to approximate a small instrumental group in a vaudeville house.
The children sing accompanied mostly by solo violin, piano, and drum set pro-
viding a basic waltz beat. Starting at 0’58”, the number includes full orchestral
accompaniment. Beyond these basics, the orchestration provides little in the way
of characterization except for a cymbal strike in m. 17 to emphasize when Louise
sings the word “kicks.”

“Some People”
Rose’s dedication to her dreams of vaudeville stardom for June becomes clear
in the first scene. In Scene 2, she brings June and Louise home for the night in
Seattle, where they live with her father. The girls head for bed after Rose says that
she hopes to get them booked on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Rose argues with
her father, who wants his daughter to get married (for the fourth time) and settle
 The orchestration of Gypsy 163
down, but Rose tells him loudly that she is not the stay-at-home type, launching
into the song “Some People.” She explains her desire to travel and design a new
act for the girls, one that she has dreamed about. The song includes a request for
$88.00 from her father, but he has already given her money for the last time and
leaves the kitchen as her song continues.
As noted above, Styne and Sondheim deleted a verse for “Some People,”
meaning that Rose launches right into the refrain, the musical mood set by two
emphatic chords in the orchestra. The introduction based on the “I had a dream”
motive heard on the OCR does not sound in the show. Styne’s selection of a minor
key and rich syncopation in the melody makes obvious Rose’s essential dissat-
isfaction. The orchestration for the first two times through the A section (track
3, to 0’47”) is subtle and conventional, the melody usually doubled by violins
with string harmonies and subtle fill-ins in strings, reeds, and brass, especially on
Merman’s longer notes, those places that Styne provided where her voice could
bloom. Two distinctive orchestral gestures occur in the opening of the B section,
where chromatic scales in reeds and strings (0’47”ff) sound on under Rose’s long
notes on the rhyming “I” and “try,” optimistic moments as Rose contemplates
trying to break out of her life’s limitations. Immediately following is a recitative-
like passage where Rose contemplates the possibilities for their act (0’54”ff), the
spaced chordal accompaniment dominated by brass, which has been using straight
mutes since the tune’s opening. This provides a distinctive bite that reflects
Rose’s determination. At the return of the A section (1’04”ff), violins doubling
the melody and string harmonization return, but muted brass is more prominent in
the fill-ins. Two short, insistent chords in the orchestra answer “some hum-drum”
(1’16”ff), setting up a longer fill-in in the reeds and brass on “be” (1’20”ff).
The song changes completely at the C section (1’26”ff), Rose’s first vocal
statement of “I had a dream.” As noted above, Ramin altered the vocal line to a
half-note triplet rather than quarter-note triplet on the first “I had a,” rendering it
similar to the remainder of the section. The orchestration changes dramatically,
first with a trio of clarinets playing a two-measure ostinato taken from Styne’s
original piano accompaniment for the tune, the repetition serving as a musical
equivalent of Rose’s obsessive behavior. She sings her leitmotif, doubled by cel-
los and imitated quickly, in turn, by the three trumpets, oboe, and then flute, a
dreamy soundscape that is unusual for the earthy Rose. She plainly describes what
she saw in her dream, chanting on a single pitch (1’38”ff), under which the osti-
nato ceases and the reeds and strings provide short chords, like a brief recitative.
The plainness of this setting contrasts strongly with the preceding. The dream
music returns (1’43”ff) with a similar setting made even more languorous with
occasional violin doubling of the vocal line. At 1’59”ff, Rose tells her father what
the head of the Orpheum Circuit told her in her dream, singing to a two-measure
ostinato that makes an important return in “Rose’s Turn.” Styne has stated that he
took this gesture from music that accompanied Bee Palmer (1894–1967), credited
as an early “shimmy” dancer. Sondheim thought it was an instrumental line and
would not work with lyrics, but Styne insisted.80 The accompaniment is again short
chords, like a recitative. She sings that these changes will result in the act being
164 The orchestration of Gypsy
booked in the big time, the line doubled by reeds and strings (2’09”ff), providing
strong emphasis. The end of her dream (2’12”ff), where she again asks her father
for money, includes similar accompaniment as heard before with the material. The
addition of a piccolo imitating the “I had a dream” motive (2’14”ff) is distinctive,
along with long trills in the first cello part. Various ostinati accompany her brief
argument with her father. Rising conjunct lines in reeds, trumpets, and violins
introduce a return of the B section (2’41”ff), shorter versions of the same gesture
that soon accompanies Merman’s long notes on “-bye” and “pie,” followed by the
recitative (2’54”ff) sung to a return of the ostinato that later sounds in “Rose’s
Turn.” The song concludes with a return of A with violins doubling the melody
and similar fill-ins, including the prominence of muted brass, but also brief, excit-
ing descending gestures from piccolo and flute (3’18”). The coda (3’24”ff) opens
with a strong orchestral crescendo on a repeated riff in reeds and brass that con-
tinues during her rests, and then the distinctive contrast of a descending chromatic
line in the lower instruments and closing syncopated gestures in trumpets and
woodwinds starting when she sings her final note on “Rose” (3’32”ff), a closing
that smacks of the vaudeville where Rose hopes to land the act.

“Small World”
This song is ready proof that the OCR of a Broadway musical is a separate pro-
ject from the show itself. “Small World,” a quiet ballad, is an unusual song for
Rose where she suppresses her aggressive personality to charm Herbie, the affa-
ble candy salesman that she has just met, hoping that he might become her act’s
manager. Herbie takes an immediate interest in her. In the song, she points out
their apparent similarities. Ramin and Ginzler orchestrated “Small World” at least
twice. The stage version includes frequent string doublings of the vocal melody—
sometimes in both violins and cellos—and a rich harmonic background in the
remainder of the strings and reeds. The form is AABA without a verse. Later Rose
sings B and the final A again, each after a break for underscored dialogue. Herbie
joins her in a duet towards the end, showing that we now have a couple. The brass
does not enter until the last three full measures, quoting part of the vocal melody
with much of the rest of the orchestra. The song only concerns this quiet, tender
meeting, very different than the emotional complexity of “Some People.” The
show’s creators experimented with another version of the song where June and
Louise were present to comment as their mother reels Herbie in to become their
manager. The younger generation sang material from “Mama’s Talkin’ Soft,” a
song deleted from the score. At least parts of this version may be seen in both the
archival piano/vocal score (257/3) and original partitur (2/6).
As noted above, there is also a partitur marked “Old” and “(Recording),” what
appears on the OCR, where the affect of the song is the same, but the arrangement
is carried mostly by strings. In the two A sections (track 4, 0’11”ff), they provide
a rich harmonic background without doubling the melody. The top violins trace a
slow countermelody that complements Rose’s line. Reeds enter in the B section
(0’57”ff), at least two flutes answering Rose in each half of the phrase and then
 The orchestration of Gypsy 165
doubling her. The strings come back for the return of A (1’20”ff), joined by flutes
in the short codetta and then more winds with subtle brass for just a bit of the
melody right after Rose cuts off, before the final chord in the strings. The orches-
tra’s contribution in both versions helps set the general mood rather than highlight
particular words or phrases.

“Baby June and Her Newsboys”

This is the number during which the adult June and Louise replace their younger
selves, showing the passage of time. The song and its corresponding dance routine
are designed to be humorous; Deborah Jowitt has noted that Robbins provided
“hilariously tacky kiddie numbers.”81 Young Louise and the boys enter as news-
boys in costumes that “are cheap representations of newsboy outfits, and they
wave papers wildly as they sing.” They introduce June, who breaks through a
large front page of a paper at a news kiosk “wearing the gaudiest, fanciest, richest
costume ROSE has been able to whip up.”82 June “screeches” as she introduces
herself, sings a “Ragtime version” of “Let Me Entertain You,” and then executes
too many dance moves in a brief span. She comes to the footlights and thanks the
audience and Uncle Sam, introducing the next segment. As she runs to the kiosk
to change her costume, Louise and the boys enter for a military routine, each boy
representing a branch of the armed forces and Louise dressed as Uncle Sam. June
returns “dressed like a red-white-and-blue Statue of Liberty and she is on point,
twirling batons for all she is worth.” The number pauses with June in splits and the
boys firing American flags from their rifles, then continuing with special lighting
as older actors replace the children while changing cards show the cities where
they are performing. The grown-up June ends with the same “high-kick bow” that
she did as a child, and then the libretto states “and – thank heavens – we BLACK
OUT.” The orchestra’s role here is to imitate “a tacky, rickety, vaudeville combi-
nation that tears into the screeching musical introduction for BABY JUNE AND
HER NEWS BOYS.” It was Laurents’s idea to substitute the older actors in this
scene; Robbins added the patriotic touches.83 “Baby June and Her Newsboys” was
one of the few vaudeville scenes to survive the show’s editing process; Robbins
requested the newsboy theme, causing Sondheim and Styne to write a second
version.84
The initial musical number in the sequence is a rapid march in 2/4. The opening,
descending line in the trombone includes slides into the first three notes amidst a
rapid accompaniment with chromatic gestures reminiscent of a circus march. The
newsboys come out screaming during the repeat of the first eight measures (track
5, 0’05”ff). Their sung introduction for Baby June (0’10”) is the same kind of
music, accompanied by strings and reeds with many fill-ins. Short chords punctu-
ate their spoken introduction for June (0’28”ff), who dances out to the front of
the stage to rising, chromatic triplets in the reeds, piano, and strings. Ramin and
Ginzler supplied the “Ragtime version” of “Let Me Entertain You” (0’53”ff) with
light accompaniment followed by a full orchestral version (1’20”ff, hardly sound-
ing like what Laurents described above as a “tacky, rickety” ensemble!) for June’s
166 The orchestration of Gypsy
dance. The scene ends on the OCR after her dance. On stage, after she invokes her
Uncle Sam, the number designated “Military Recitation” includes march gestures,
brief quotations from military anthems tied together with enthusiastic percussion,
“Yankee Doodle” with two piccolos, and ending with a brief reference to Sousa’s
Stars and Stripes Forever with a tacky codetta. “Let Me Entertain You” sounds
as a utility for applause before June screeches “Mr. Conductor, if you please!,”
bringing in “Children’s Military Routine,” an accelerating version of the same
excerpt from the end of Sousa’s march, during which the adult actors replace the
children. Laurents and his collaborators originally thought they would have three
sets of Louise and June, one between the children and the adults.85

“Mr. Goldstone, I Love You”

Rose sings this song in celebration because Herbie just brought in Mervyn
Goldstone to announce that they have been booked onto the Orpheum Circuit.
Sondheim has acknowledged that the number is “a boilerplate example of the
‘list’ song at its most egregious.”86 The song’s functions include showing the ordi-
narily stingy Rose in a generous mood once she receives this long-awaited news
and also providing a moment of strong contrast to “Little Lamb,” Louise’s mel-
ancholy song that follows. The scene opens with Rose and her troupe awakening
at their hotel. It is Louise’s birthday and the other young people share stolen gifts
with her. Rose brings in a tiny cake and Chinese food, interrupted by the hotel
owner who finds too many sleeping in the rooms, unauthorized cooking, and sev-
eral animals. Rose gets the man in one of the rooms by herself and accuses him
of accosting her. The owner leaves as Herbie arrives with Mr. Goldstone and the
song ensues. Sondheim prolongs the initial levity of Rose actually showing gen-
erosity by having her mix up words from excitement and including unexpected
images and unusual rhymes.
For the music, Styne produced a worthy march in 6/8 and later 2/4. Given the
nature of the lyrics with no overall theme other than elation, Ramin and Ginzler
simply support the general affect with their orchestrations. After Herbie says the
act has been booked on the Orpheum Circuit, the stage direction states: “A long
pause. SHE stares, numb with growing happiness. Mechanically, she picks up
a plate from the trunk and holds it out—”87 Rose begins the song tentatively,
matched by the orchestra, which seems slow to react. The accompaniment starts
with four measures of bass line, and then off-beats with fill-ins on long notes at
phrase endings. At 0’19”, violins begin to double some of the melody. When the
second verse begins (track 6, 0’35”), the orchestra has become more engaged with
violins fully doubling the voice and a reed countermelody. When Rose finishes
that verse (0’59”), the time signature changes to 2/4 and an accelerando com-
mences with the main melody transformed into the new meter, played by trum-
pets and violins. There are touches on the OCR that were not heard from the pit
orchestra, such as two glissandi on xylophone during this instrumental interlude.
Rose’s third verse (1’08”ff) remains in 2/4 with little that is new in the orchestra
aside from fill-ins that gradually become more elaborate. Rose sings a ludicrous
 The orchestration of Gypsy 167
recitative (1’25”ff) naming other types of “stones,” accompanied by long string
chords and with one fill-in from the reeds, heard from the pit orchestra but not on
the OCR. The final march sequence, again in 6/8, provides a spirited conclusion
with numerous flourishes in the winds and strings, not unlike the Americana that
concluded the previous scene.

“Little Lamb”
The dominance of Rose’s brassy character in Gypsy allows for few moments of
introspection, making this solo a welcome contrast. According to Keith Garebian,
“Little Lamb” was a trunk song, one of three in the score along with “You’ll Never
Get away from Me” and “Everything’s Coming up Roses.”88 Robbins tried to cut
the song during the out-of-town try-out in Philadelphia—without consulting with
the writers—to make room for a burlesque number, agreeing to restore “Little
Lamb” when Styne announced that otherwise he would withdraw his score.89
Greg Lawrence reports that writers also asked the Dramatists Guild to threaten the
show’s producers with consequences if the number were not restored.90 The song
was written to interrupt “Goldstone” with Louise singing in an adjacent room and
then returning to “Goldstone” after Louise finished, but Robbins disliked inter-
rupting the first song.91 In the final version, “Little Lamb” immediately follows
the blackout after “Goldstone.” Louise is alone in one of the hotel rooms, singing
to the lamb that her mother just gave her for her birthday and to her other ani-
mals, real and stuffed. She is sad because birthdays pass quickly, and because her
mother has managed to conceal her true age. Sondheim’s lyrics sound naïve but
effectively project Louise’s feelings to her animals through questions and then
plaintively asking what her age might be at the conclusion.
The music of “Little Lamb” is almost cloyingly sweet. It is a simple AABA form
without verse. In the score it opens with the play-off music from “Goldstone,” but
that is not on the OCR, where the track instead opens with a harp glissando. The
remainder of the music on the OCR is similar to the staged version. If provided
with a German text, the song would sound somewhat like a Lied by Schubert or
Brahms. Ascending gestures in oboe and horn (track 7, 0’08”ff) set up the similar,
initial vocal entrance. In the A section, violins in thirds answer each ascending
vocal gesture. In the score, clarinet and oboe double the vocal line at the chro-
matic conclusion of the A sections, the doublings deleted for the recording. In
the B section (1’12”ff), Ramin and Ginzler supplied subtle fill-ins and counter-
melodies from flute, oboe, and violins. The final A section ends with a repetition
of Louise’s rhetorical question about her age, answered at various moments by
horn, flute and oboe, and then quietly but emphatically by brass going into the
last measure.

“You’ll Never Get away from Me”

Sondheim describes this song as “a jaunty romantic ballad,”92 to which he pro-
vided cynical lyrics that prove Rose’s relentless nature, even with Herbie. They
168 The orchestration of Gypsy
are at a Chinese restaurant; June and Louise return to the hotel. Herbie is frus-
trated that Rose won’t marry him and, at the moment, complaining about eve-
rything she does. He tries to tell her that there is an economic depression and
vaudeville is dying, and threatens to leave her, but she insists that he would only
leave briefly, and launches into the song. As noted above, Sondheim had an issue
with using Styne’s trunk songs, but he had heard the composer play this melody
at parties and thought that Styne wrote it for a film but it had been cut, with an
unfinished lyric by Sammy Cahn. He asked Styne to get permission from Cahn
to write a new set of lyrics, which the composer says he did. It was only after the
show opened that Sondheim learned that Styne had used the tune in the television
musical Ruggles of Red Gap with lyrics by Leo Robin, the title in that version
being “I’m in Pursuit of Happiness.”93 If Sondheim had known this, he would
never have consented to using the tune.94
Like “Small World,” “You’ll Never Get away from Me” sounds on the OCR
in a different arrangement than heard in the pit orchestra. No manuscript of the
OCR version is extant in Ramin’s papers at the Columbia Archive. It is a jaun-
tier take on the song, the accompaniment from the opening dominated by flutes
and other reeds playing a riff (based upon Rose’s melody from when she invites
Herbie to dance with her) that sounds first in the pit version in the middle sec-
tion of the song before Herbie sings of his love for Rose, but that he tires of her
lack of commitment. Another difference between the two renditions is that Herbie
starts to sing with Rose when the first A returns on the OCR (track 8, 1’40”ff),
which he did not do on stage until later in the song. Both versions are in the same
overall form: once through the ABAC refrain followed by dialog, then the duet
where Herbie says that he might leave and Rose tries to get him to dance, fol-
lowed by a second version of the refrain. In the first refrain of the stage version,
Ramin and Ginzler doubled Rose with violins and used fairly heavy fill-ins, such
as reeds and trombones during “some-how.” They also placed numerous instru-
ments on the tresillo rhythms in the vocal line (that, for example, jauntily sets
“here’s your hat”), instrumental confirmation of Rose’s stubbornness. Another
place where one can hear Rose’s dominance in the relationship is just before the
last refrain as she sings that Herbie cannot leave her, accompanied by the riff in
the reeds but also by a bass pedal E in the horn, an obnoxious touch also heard
on the OCR (1’33”ff). As the refrain returns, the melodic doubling on Rose’s line
includes violins, clarinet, and English horn and fill-ins involve more brass, help-
ing to confirm their relationship when Herbie starts singing a countermelody at
the second A. Rose concludes the vocal line as a solo and the opening riff closes
the instrumental accompaniment.

“Dainty June and Her Farmboys”

The show’s second major vaudeville sequence takes place at an audition at
Grantzinger’s Palace in New York City. It has been years since they played
the Orpheum Circuit; Louise and June are too mature for their stage personas.
Laurents’s description of the act emphasizes its tawdriness and pretentiousness:
 The orchestration of Gypsy 169
the lights dim and the curtains part to reveal a corny set of a vaudeville barn-
yard, complete with haystack. ROSE’S NEWSBOYS are now FARMBOYS,
and they stand with rakes, hoes, etc. in a picturesque tableau (!) as birds and
music twitter the approach of dawn.95

Rose has dreamed up a dancing cow, but June’s introduction and the patriotic
finale remain. The farmhands sing basically the same song as the newsboys did,
now called “Farm,” and June materializes out of a haystack. She sings the “Cow
Song” about her friend Caroline, who dances with her. Louise is inside the front
half of the cow. “Broadway” follows with a train effect as June boards, but then
she realizes that she cannot leave Caroline and returns to the farm to general
rejoicing and the “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Ramin and Ginzler ensured that the orchestra would be a full participant in
Rose’s creation, filling the two numbers with numerous evocative moments. The
OCR (track 9) only includes the “Farm” segment, through the end of the “Cow
Song” and dance. The stage version opens with seven measures of the famil-
iar “Morning Mood” from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt (not on the OCR), setting
the stage for June’s bucolic endeavors. Violins play the melody, accompanied
by cello arpeggios, rapid notes in the flute, and a piccolo trill. Barn dance tun-
ing sounds—open fifths in the strings—crassly interrupt Grieg’s melody, setting
up the boys singing a truncated version of June’s usual introduction. The “Cow
Song,” a soft-shoe, follows. As noted above, Ramin provided the orchestration’s
vaudeville effects, so this is perhaps his “masterpiece” in the score reflecting that
calling: woodblock and cowbell sound in the percussion and multiple instru-
ments execute glissandi, most outrageously in the baritone saxophone (Reed 5) to
accompany June singing “moove” (1’35”), one of several puns in the awful lyrics.
The next segment, “Broadway,” is soupy and chromatic, opening in E minor and
sung first by the boys, who then dance, followed by June performing the song.
The arrangement is replete with rapid fill-ins in reeds and brass and various types
of dance accompaniments as Rose crams in as many styles as possible within a
tiny space of time, each based on transformations of the “Broadway” melody.
When they get on the train, Ramin and Ginzler, again using the song’s descend-
ing chromatic line, surround it with rapid, scalewise passages and glissandi placed
within a train’s expected accelerando. Once June has declared undying loyalty to
Caroline, the Stars and Stripes Forever concludes the scene.

“If Momma Was Married”

Grantziger’s secretary tells Rose, Herbie, June, and Louise that the producer
offered them a contract because he thinks June has potential. He would pay for
her acting training if Rose stays out of it, which makes Rose go tell off Grantziger.
This leaves Louise and June alone together, allowing them to communicate hon-
estly as sisters. June wants out of the act and to stop acting like a child. She is sur-
prised that Louise isn’t more jealous of how their mother keeps trying to push her
sister to stardom. June sees a solution in their mother marrying Herbie and leaving
170 The orchestration of Gypsy
them alone. Louise doesn’t believe that Herbie wants to marry her mother, cuing
the song with her wish that Rose might “marry a plain man … so we could all be
together.”96 For this song, what sounds on the OCR and what was heard from the
Broadway stage are basically the same.
The most important determining factor in the orchestration is that this num-
ber is a waltz, demanding an accented downbeat followed by lighter quarter
notes. The lyrics mention the dance. Accompanying the two female voices are
strings and reeds with brass providing fill-ins that sound more frequently later
in the song. Upper reed fill-ins dominated by flutes occur during Louise’s initial
solo (track 10, 0’10”ff), with reed off-beats doubled by bells at the verse’s end
(0’19”ff). A more lively fill-in with some syncopation occurs in strings and reeds
at the end of June’s solo verse (0’46”ff). The most prominent orchestral effect
in the song is rapid chromatic scales and glissandi variously occurring in vio-
lins, bells, and reeds on the first syllable of “Momma” (0’49”ff, 0’57”ff, 1’21”ff,
1’55”ff, 2’02”ff), as the girls plead for her to take a husband. A few other worthy
instrumental touches in this ebullient, if ironic, number include doublings in reeds
and ominous cello tremolo to accompany the ascending chromatic scale that June
sings before breaking into “Let Me Entertain You” (1’29”ff); varied instrumental
doublings as they sing the tune from their act; punchy, instrumental reactions to
June offering “kicks” and Louise “tricks”; and mocking, descending chromatic
lines in the brass when the young women sing that their mother fails to be “carried
away” with her romantic choices. For the end of the number (2’29”ff), Ramin and
Ginzler provide something akin to a Viennese waltz coda.

“All I Need Is the Girl”

Tulsa, a boy in the act, practices a dance routine with a broom substituting for the
woman. Herbie catches him at it, observing that he seems to have been working
on the dance since Grantziger canceled their booking three months before. Tulsa
lies and tells Herbie that he is just messing around, supported by Louise, who just
entered. Herbie asks if Tulsa is worried about the act or if they would like some-
thing to eat but the young people stonewall him, especially Louise, who so far
has remained distant from the agent. Herbie leaves and Louise pumps Tulsa for
information about his act, assuring him that she can keep a secret. She takes his
hand and reads his palm, showing that he is also secretive and that they both have
dreams. She has a crush on him, but Tulsa withdraws his hand and backs away.
He confesses that he wants a partner for his act who will also care about him and
describes the scene before beginning his song. He is getting ready for a date as
the number begins. Once the dance starts, Louise imagines that she is his partner,
finally awkwardly but happily dancing with him. The children are growing up,
but, as we will see, it is not for Louise that Tulsa has feelings.
“All I Need Is the Girl” beautifully captures a young man anticipating romance;
Jeffrey Broadhurst as Tulsa makes the number a real highlight of the video of
Gypsy starring Bette Midler. The song’s jaunty verse with its short phrases and
immaculately rhymed lyrics contrasts vividly with the refrain’s sinewy melody,
 The orchestration of Gypsy 171
where the lyrics portray a confident young man who dreams that he is preparing
his wardrobe to be a song and dance man with a beautiful partner. The number’s
sophistication is the antithesis of Rose’s cheesy vaudeville acts. The version of
“All I Need Is the Girl” on the OCR is largely the same as what was performed on
stage in the original Broadway version. Laurents, who watched Robbins stage the
number and for the occasion even played the role of the girl who couldn’t dance,
wrote this appreciation of his collaborator’s work:

a little one-act musical play. Simple story; a cast of two, and one, the girl,
can’t dance; no dazzling steps or combinations and an absence of pyrotech-
nics. Yet anyone who can watch it without being exhilarated and unexpect-
edly moved belongs in the cemetery, not the theatre.97

Deborah Jowitt reports that Danny Daniels assisted with the scene’s tap moves
because the style was one in which Robbins was uncomfortable.98
The orchestration displays an admirable handling of resources in support of the
scene’s dramatic arc. Five reeds and piano start an ostinato under dialog between
Tulsa and Louise and accompany Tulsa similarly as he begins the number. (This
is clearly the case on the OCR, but in the recording from the Broadway pit ver-
sion it sounds like one or two trombones also play from the beginning. In the
orchestral parts that formed the basis for this study, cues at one point were written
in for trombone 1 from the top of the tune, but for no other brass instruments.)
Trombones enter on the OCR (track 11, 0’38”) one measure before he declares the
French provenance of some of the material in his clothes. They accompany this
and his next two exclamations, trombone 1 on the same f’ that Tulsa sings. His
joyful shout resonates over the instruments, reeds supplying brief fill-ins and then
a flourish on “need” (0’46”ff), setting up the elegant refrain, where the accompa-
niment is simple with cellos and occasionally violins doubling Tulsa. Reeds pro-
vide regular fill-ins with some participation by trumpets. The pattern gets broken
at 1’04”ff and 1’22”ff with the orchestra silent as the pace of the lyrics accelerates.
A brief flurry of triplets in flute and piccolo paint the word “whirl” (1’17”ff), but
Ramin and Ginzler saved larger effects for the dance.
Chords in reeds and brass set up the dance, which Tulsa narrates. It starts with
a tap sequence (1’35”ff), the orchestra filling in complementary, brief chords that
outline the song’s melody, a common musical effect with tap dancing. Muted brass
begins, and reeds join as Tulsa builds to climax, doubling his speed (2’14”ff).
He announces the arrival of his imaginary partner, dressed in white. Strings and
bells welcome her with an effect of descending seventh chords (2’20”ff). As Tulsa
and his imaginary partner begin to dance, the song’s melody returns (2’28”ff) in
clarinet, English horn, horn, and cellos, with bells and shimmering tremolo in
violins and later decorative glissandi in reeds and violins as Tulsa describes a
dance move that displays her costume. Tulsa announces a step borrowed from
Fred Astaire (2”54”ff), accompanied by muted trumpets answered by reeds and
strings while Tulsa sings along. He declares a waltz (3’07”ff), a transformed ver-
sion of the song’s tune, mostly in strings and reeds with several ascending runs.
172 The orchestration of Gypsy
A brief interruption of two measures of staccato reeds, bells, and pizzicato strings
(3’23”ff) precedes Tulsa announcing three lifts, heard in reeds and violins, the
third (3’38”ff) initiating the effect that Ramin marked as “Debussy” in the piano/
vocal score (described above): planed triads in bells and tremolo violins, out of
which the melody returns in violins and reeds, now in an alla breve that builds
into a full-throated statement of the main melody dominated by brass and five sax-
ophones, violins finally entering on sixteenth-note runs. Louise and Tulsa dance
together, the scene ended by brief triplet runs in reeds and violins and finally glis-
sandi in numerous instruments.

“Everything’s Coming up Roses”

Probably the most famous song in the score, Rose sings this finale of Act I to
Louise and Herbie after finding out that June eloped with Tulsa. Louise and
Herbie know their act has no future and urge Rose to marry Herbie and forget
about show business. It is the moment when Herbie and Louise finally come to
an understanding, but there is no convincing Rose. In the song, she projects her
endless ambitions onto Louise, who cannot sing or dance. Laurents and Sondheim
had wondered whether Merman could act the part of Rose, and they decided that a
solution to that potential problem at this moment was to allow Rose to be obsessed
and clueless while Herbie and Louise react in horror.99 Rose’s unrealistic reac-
tion was encapsulated in this song, designed to resemble some of Merman’s ear-
lier hits, such as “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” from Anything Goes.100 Sondheim filled
“Coming up Roses” with images of childhood and show business and Styne used
a tune that gave Merman the long notes that she needed to let her voice bloom; the
result became one of the singer’s most famous numbers. (This was apparently the
case by the end of the Broadway run because on the last night fervent applause
broke out just as she began the chorus.) As noted above, Robbins actually sug-
gested using the tune, which he remembered being cut from High Button Shoes.
After the introduction, the refrain is in AABA form with a brief C section and then
a return of A followed by a coda.
The versions of “Everything Coming up Roses” on the OCR and performed
in the theater were very similar. Styne and Sondheim opted for a short, energetic
introduction based on Rose’s “I had a dream” leitmotif, like a recitative, dra-
matically but sparsely accompanied by timpani roll and lower-string tremolo.
Ramin and Ginzler approached the number knowing that the end of the song
needed to bring the house down, so the orchestration starts out with a sparse
texture, with no doubling on the vocal line through the first two A sections (track
12, 0’18”ff) except when Rose sings the title line (i.e., 0’32”ff), an effect that
prepares the song’s closing, brassy chorus. Appropriate fill-ins occur from reeds
and brass, particularly effective after each of the first two A sections, where
brief, paired quarter notes echoing “roses” sound three times, gradually descend-
ing in pitch level. For emphasis, they are marked “Vicious” (i.e., 0’37”ff). As
the B section starts (0’58”ff), the affect changes from brassy to encouraging,
with violins doubling voice and ascending fill-ins in brass and reeds. For the
 The orchestration of Gypsy 173
evocation of ‘spinning’ (1’06”f), violins provide descriptive descending, chro-
matic lines of eighth notes. The song’s distinctive half-note triplets enter during
this phrase (1’09”ff), the melody there doubled by violins with other instruments
in harmony. With the return of A (1’12”ff), violins double the voice and there
are numerous brass and reed fill-ins, the orchestral treatment until the C sec-
tion (1’47”ff) mostly predictable from what has been heard to this point except
for the driving off-beats in bass instruments that underscore “that lucky star…”
(1’28”ff). The C section is marked “Freely.” It opens conversationally, what
might pass for a comforting moment in a song of forced happiness. This is heard
mainly in the string accompaniment, but by the time Rose is back in her brassy
mode on the quarter-note triplets at 2’00” setting, much of the orchestra dou-
bles that rhythm, emphasizing Rose’s departure from reality. A returns (2’04”ff),
accompanied similarly to the previous hearing. At 2’26”, where Rose begins her
consistent repetition of the half-note triplets, Ramin and Ginzler apply the brass
progressively, for additional emphasis. First, we hear trombones and horn, on the
third statement the first trumpet joins, and then at 2’47”, for the last 21 seconds,
all of the brass plays with a bell-like timbre as one hears in Christmas music.

“Together Wherever We Go”

The first song in Act 2 is “Toreadorables,” their new vaudeville act, which does
not appear on the OCR. It opens with the female chorus introducing “Señorita
Louise” to an adaptation of the same music that has been used twice before to
introduce June in Rose’s acts. Louise struggles to make an entrance and laments
her lack of talent. Rose tells them to jump to the finale, based upon the “Toreador
Song” from Bizet’s Carmen. After this poor rehearsal, Louise explodes in frustra-
tion. With her now older daughter, Rose can no longer just bully her; what follows
is a musical comedy moment, showing how that genre’s conventions remain in
dramatic musical plays where audiences still accept the unrealistic notion that,
momentarily, any rancor can be solved by a song. Styne and Sondheim supplied a
number similar in tone to “Friendship” from Cole Porter’s Anything Goes (1934),
another show starring Merman. “Together” is different than Rose’s other music
in Gypsy but fits with the persona that Merman had often played in other shows:
plucky, optimistic, and approachable. The song is a con job directed at Louise,
with Herbie assisting Rose, who introduces the number with an uncharacteristic,
self-deprecatory remark involving her role as the person they can “yell at.”101 In
the Broadway version, Rose sings a refrain and then Herbie and Louise join her
for the second statement, followed by an encore version. After they decide to turn
all of the other young women into blondes and rename the act “Rose-Louise and
Her Hollywood Blondes,” they sing through the song’s final A section once more.
On the OCR, one hears only the first two refrains; the encore verse is on the video
of Gypsy starring Bette Midler, where the entire song is performed well. The
lyrics and music of the encore are more complicated in terms of the interactions
between characters and it has a different orchestration.
174 The orchestration of Gypsy
“Together Wherever We Go” is a jaunty number that delights the audience and
distracts a cast member. Laurents called it “a vaudeville act aimed at the audi-
ence.”102 For the first two times through the AABA refrain, Ramin and Ginzler
plied the usual tricks of their trade, doubling the melody with strings or reeds,
adding subtle countermelodies (like those that Ramin suggested in the piano/vocal
score, described above), and placing numerous fill-ins in the reeds with muted
trumpets occasionally sounding for emphasis. One hears the song’s light nature in
the carefree riff stated at the outset by two clarinets and two flutes, which also pro-
vide most of the brief fill-ins in the first two A sections, bolstered by three muted
trumpets at the end of each section (i.e., OCR, track 13, 0’14”ff). Violins double
the vocal melody the first two times through A. The B section (0’26”ff) provides
major contrast, opening with a move to the parallel minor. Ramin and Ginzler
scored long notes in reeds and horn, later tremolo in the cellos, and off-beats in
the violins. An effective touch takes place in the reeds with descending glissandi
to correspond with large vocal intervals on “he goes … she goes,” i.e., 0’30”ff).
The segment concludes with reeds and muted brass answering “together,” the
last word (0’46”ff), recalling fill-ins from the A section just before it recurs. The
accompaniment of the final A is in much the same spirit as the first two A sections
but there are several differences, including a fill-in of spirited triplets in flute and
piccolo underlining the word “show” (0’57”ff); discontinuation of strings dou-
bling the vocal melody in favor of string chords as Rose suggests their coopera-
tion singing “With you for me…” (0’59”ff), making it akin to a recitative; and
resumption of the opening riff in the reeds (1’07”ff) on the last word in the voice,
forming a bridge into the next refrain. Orchestral accompaniment for the second
chorus is based strongly on what one hears in the first with significant differences
including that the melodic doubling of vocal lines during the A sections is some-
times in the reeds rather than the strings and there are places with rich accompa-
niment provided for Jack Klugman, an insecure singer, such as a string entrance
at 1’28”ff. To close out the OCR version, reeds fade on the opening riff. In the
song’s encore, the third chorus performed in the Broadway production, there are
places where the orchestration effectively supports the text, such as the trombones
sliding down from notes in the second A section when Herbie sings about them
all singing flat, and militaristic fill-ins in the brass in the B section as Herbie and
Louise declare their ability to overcome anything. Ramin and Ginzler reprised
similar accompaniment ideas in the brief tag of the song that concludes the scene.

“You Gotta Get a Gimmick”

Rose and the troupe arrive in Wichita for their next gig and discover that Herbie
accidentally booked them into a burlesque house. In a moment of realism, Rose
understands that the act is through. Herbie and Rose agree to get married follow-
ing this engagement. Three strippers explain the secrets of their profession to
Louise, preparation for the next scene when Rose again dreams of stardom and
volunteers her daughter to replace the missing, featured stripper. The idea for
“You Gotta Get a Gimmick” came from burlesque dancers who auditioned for
 The orchestration of Gypsy 175
the show, especially Faith Dane (hired to play Mazeppa), who provided some of
the ideas for the number’s staging, especially her being dressed as a gladiator and
blowing on a trumpet.103 The audience has already heard music suitable for bur-
lesque in the “Overture,” but this song is a humorous introduction to the strippers’
world. The version on the OCR is similar to what was done on stage, but there are
major differences, such as a trumpet solo to open on the OCR where the stage ver-
sion opened with clarinet answered by bass clarinet, and, on the OCR, Electra’s
dance is shorter and Tessie’s dance cut because the humor for each is visual.
Ramin and Ginzler deliver the burlesque soundscape with gusto: bluesy
clarinet lines snaking around on dotted rhythms, screaming trumpets with wide
vibrato, trombones sliding around with suggestive ornamentation, and the trap
player always ready to hit the bass drum for a bump. Except for string bass, the
strings do little, occasionally playing squeaky effects “Behind the Bridge (Jack
Benny Style),”104 and solo violin to cello accompaniment provides the short
waltz to which Tessie Tura dances. There are numerous licks in the part books,
especially in the brass, that do not appear on the OCR nor did they sound in the
Broadway pit, such as chromatic trumpet fill-ins during the accompanied por-
tion of Mazeppa’s trumpet solo (track 14, 1’10”ff) and several trombone fill-ins.
A good example of the screaming trumpets and trombones on the OCR sounds
as a fill-in to a line in which Mazeppa notes that her advice will bring applause
(0’22”ff). The most evocative blues trumpet solo of the number, complete with
plunger mute, follows her laborious bumps and grinds (0’44”ff) and the declara-
tion that such actions caused the birth of burlesque. An exciting row of triplets
in reeds and brass (1’40”ff), like that which one hears in the “Overture” (track
1, 3’29”ff), introduces the next stripper, Electra. Later, Tessie sings that her col-
leagues’ gimmicks won’t bring them “success,” answered vividly (2’35”ff) with
all three trombones blowing an obnoxious low B-flat. After each stripper states
her individual case, brass and reeds enter on wide-ranging triplet lines (2’58”ff)
before the strippers sing a short canon. Finally, all five reed players are on saxo-
phones, heard with the brass to full effect from 3’45”ff to the end, a strong effect
being all three trombones performing guttural glissandi (3’47”ff).

“Let Me Entertain You” (“Gypsy Strip”)

From the project’s beginnings, Laurents knew that there would be a burlesque
scene so that the audience could see Louise transform into Gypsy Rose Lee and
that the production then would have to outdo that number with what became
“Rose’s Turn.”105 Rose seizes the opportunity for Louise to do the featured strip
at the Wichita burlesque house, flinging herself into quick preparations while
Herbie and Louise watch in shocked silence. Louise docilely gets ready for her
debut while her mother does all of the talking; for Herbie this is finally a reason
to leave Rose and he does so after an argument. Just before Louise goes on, she
regards herself in the mirror and says, “I’m a pretty girl, Momma!”106 Every inch
a lady, Louise goes on stage. She sings softly at first and Rose calls out “Sing out,
Louise!,”107 just as she did at the show’s opening. Louise builds confidence and
176 The orchestration of Gypsy
her comfort grows as the strip number proceeds quickly from Wichita to Detroit
and Philadelphia, and then to Minsky’s World Famous Burlesque in New York
City, the profession’s apex.
Despite the scene’s importance, it was one of the hardest to finalize. Given a let-
ter that Leland Hayward sent to Robbins on 23 September 1959, the co-producer
still did not believe that the number worked effectively months after the premiere.
Actress Sandra Church as Gypsy started the sequence wearing three dresses:
black for Wichita, blue for Detroit, and red for Philadelphia. She appeared in each
in turn and then changed quickly into a green dress for Minsky’s, a costume that
Hayward rages about in his letter because it completely covered the actress.108
Robbins was then on tour in Europe with his Ballets: U.S.A., also produced by
Hayward. During their correspondence on the topic, Robbins suggested that he
put Church in another costume or have her appear nearly nude in pasties and a
G-string, a choice that the actress would not consider.109 Problems began before
Robbins even staged the strip, with Laurents wanting it to be a scene of suggestion
and teasing while Gypsy stayed in her dress. Robbins wanted something more
realistic that would not violate legal standards of obscenity.110 Laurents thought
that Robbins lost confidence in Church’s ability to play the role, especially in Act
2, and even stopped her from addressing the audience in the strip scene while
strutting about the stage, the essence of Gypsy Rose Lee’s act.111 Church became
frustrated with Robbins because she felt that he “wouldn’t deal with the strip
number.”112 She says that while fine-tuning the show in Philadelphia that some
nights he would tell her to strip and other nights to remain clothed.
Whatever happened on stage, Robbins’s musical collaborators simply wrote
burlesque music for the number. The “Overture” signaled their willingness to get
down and dirty, a stance confirmed in “You Gotta Get a Gimmick.” For this final
version of “Let Me Entertain You,” Ramin and Ginzler provided bluesy sounds
based upon the instrumentation of a jazz big band. That the number’s music is a
parody of the innocent song that June and Louise sang earlier is jarring and ironic,
projecting blatant sex appeal when Louise confidently sings it, each line becom-
ing a leering double-entendre. As heard in the Broadway run, Louise starts the
number off tentatively and becomes more comfortable with her new profession as
she moves to each new stage, marked by a public address announcement of a dif-
ferent city and a new gown. Much the same music sounds on the OCR (track 15),
but from the moment she starts singing Louise is sexy and proud, suggestively
bending the melody’s rhythm and coquettishly playing to the audience. There are
no announcements of new cities on the OCR, the entire number sounding like
she mastered the art of stripping and polished her act during her initial foray onto
the stage. The OCR version can be divided into three parts: singing the song’s
ABAC form once through, dance music during which she struts around the stage
(1’21”ff), and reprising the concluding AC sections (2’21”ff). Highlights of the
orchestral accompaniment in the first section include the Dixieland opening for
sliding trombone and clarinet solo (0’10”ff); barrelhouse piano (0’17”ff); a noo-
dling clarinet solo in counterpoint with the voice (0’27”ff) like one might have
heard from the famous Dixieland player Johnny Dodds who recorded with King
 The orchestration of Gypsy 177
Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and others; a tenor saxophone solo (0’53”ff) in a similar
style in counterpoint with the clarinet; and triplets from brass and reeds (1’16”ff)
to introduce the instrumental interlude. The next section is led by trumpets with a
screeching clarinet solo, projecting the ethos of Chicago jazz from the late 1920s.
A high, solo trumpet line (1’59”ff) competes with the clarinet and one trombon-
ist also becomes prominent while playing with Gypsy’s tune. The eighth-note
triplets (2’21”ff) that Ramin and Ginzler used to introduce jazz entrances in the
“Overture” and “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” announce Gypsy’s final entrance,
accompanied at first more by saxophones and trombones, but prominent trum-
pets return for the ending. The blues influence is plain to hear with flatted thirds
throughout the texture, ending with a jazzy, dissonant, final chord of a major/
minor E-flat triad with added second, fourth, and sixth.

“Rose’s Turn” (“Mama’s Turn”)

One of the most famous solo numbers in Broadway history, “Rose’s Turn” falls
in the tradition of operatic mad scenes, an unusual inspiration to find in a musical
play of the 1950s. Sondheim stated this baldly in 1985: “it’s a mad scene. It’s a
musical comedy starring a mad scene.”113 Rodgers and Hammerstein approached
operatic intensity in scenes involving complex emotions in Judd’s “Lonely Room”
from Oklahoma! (1943) and Billy’s “Soliloquy” from their Carousel (1945). West
Side Story includes several moments where the numbers become operatic, such
as in “A Boy Like That/I Have a Love,” but “Rose’s Turn” occupies an unusual
place in the Broadway repertory in the way that the song lays bare one character’s
seething frustration and volcanic fury. Louise tried to ban Rose from Minsky’s
backstage, but her mother tore down the sign, let her dog do its business on it,
and went to her daughter’s dressing room. They cannot get along because Rose
constantly interferes in Louise’s life and seems alternately interested and repelled
by what her daughter has become. Rose asks why Louise thinks her mother did all
the things for and with her children; Louise answer is devastating: “I thought you
did it for me, Momma.”114 This sends Rose into an uncharacteristic moment of
self-reflection, cutting deeply into her psyche as she contemplates how June and
Herbie left her, how alone she feels, and realizes that she craved stardom and has
been living through her children. Robbins at one point wanted this to be a ballet
where Rose would be confronted with her sordid past, but he decided he didn’t
have time to choreograph it.115 The notion of Ethel Merman appearing in a ballet
is, to say the least, intriguing.
The creation of “Rose’s Turn” is a case study in collaboration, the premise of
Jeffrey Magee’s article on the number’s origins and development.116 The author
surveys the contributions of Laurents, Sondheim, Oscar Hammerstein II, Angela
Lansbury, and Merman, concluding with what Sondheim learned from the song
and how that knowledge appears in his later shows. Magee describes Laurents’s
realization that the show needed to end with a powerfully revealing moment
for Rose, Sondheim’s nocturnal sketching out of the number with Robbins dur-
ing the Gypsy rehearsal period and subsequently finishing the song with Styne,
178 The orchestration of Gypsy
Hammerstein’s suggestion that Merman be allowed to bow for applause at the
end of the song so the audience could release its appreciation and not be distracted
during the last short scene between Rose and Louise, Lansbury’s part in revising
the number’s aftermath in the 1973 West End production in which she played
Rose under Laurents’s direction, and the importance of Merman in defining the
role and helping to inspire “Rose’s Turn.” Magee also considers Robbins’s role
in staging the number for Merman and showing her how to perform it, Styne’s
composition of the music that Sondheim helped arrange into the song, and coach-
ing that Merman received from Gerald Freedman, Robbins’s assistant. A late
stage in the number’s development was orchestration, a step that has not been
considered in detail. Laurents noted that Hammerstein’s influence changed the
orchestration because the original conception was to discourage applause with
a soft, unconvincing ending, continuing Rose’s confused self-examination until
Louise speaks to her. Hammerstein was correct that Merman’s audience needed to
applaud; indeed, at the last Broadway performance on 25 March 1961, the audi-
ence started clapping before the number was over and continued for more than 40
seconds. Neither Laurents nor Sondheim wanted to argue with Hammerstein and
they made the change, which, as Laurents wrote, “as a result, the orchestra went
out of character and blasted away.”117 The OCR is very similar to what one heard
in the initial Broadway run. Bette Midler’s rendition of the number on the 1993
video version of Gypsy, as noted above, is strikingly distinctive, a harrowing look
at the character at this point in the show.
“Rose’s Turn” features burlesque music like that heard in Gypsy’s strip, but
this setting is very different. The high, prominent brass is ironically poignant,
showcasing a woman well past her youth dancing suggestively to lampoon her
daughter. For Rose, real talent is singing and dancing, not providing sexual titil-
lation, and here she demonstrates her resentment of Louise’s burlesque stardom
while making a spectacle of herself. Recalling music from throughout the show
provides “Rose’s Turn” with both finality and familiarity. (The one place this is
not the case is when she repeats phrases starting with “Mama…” [OCR, track
16, 1’42”ff], the lyrical idea derived from “Mother’s Day,” cut from the show.)
Ramin and Ginzler provided several intriguing effects. Rose introduces herself,
punctuated by stingers, and then the brass launches into strip music, becoming
part of Rose’s self-aggrandizement when they roar their approval after she asks
if they like it. Two dominant sounds in the first 1’10” of the song are the brass
being played loud, down, and dirty, and Merman’s memorable belting. At 1’22”,
Rose announces her intention to put on a show, parodying her daughter, followed
by increasingly discordant brass and reeds helping to define the moment when
Rose breaks down and realizes that she has to get out of the way (2’11”ff). Styne
has stated that this use of dissonance was an imitation of Prokofiev.118 At 2’16”,
a descending ostinato (from “Some People”), mostly in the woodwinds but with
brass added judiciously, accompanies Rose’s litany of complaints, augmented
considerably by trombones at 2’51 when she realizes that she has become expend-
able. At 2’56”, Rose returns to her “I had a dream” motive, without strong brass
accompaniment but answered by oboe, harkening back to “Some People.” At
 The orchestration of Gypsy 179
3’10”, she becomes more combative with a big crescendo that signals a return of
the kind of brass writing that opened the song, continuing until her self-absorbed
conclusion, the brass and saxophones again the sonic equivalent of her abrasive
personality. Dramatic orchestral chords punctuate her recitative starting at 3’21”.
From 3’34”, brass and five saxophones mostly dominate recapitulating strip
music, the number ending with very high notes in the second trumpet.

Conclusion
Steven Suskin and others have judged the original orchestration of Gypsy to be
a fine example of its kind, even ground-breaking in its use of brass and adoption
of frank burlesque tropes. Jule Styne sent Sid Ramin a telegram on the day of the
show’s New York premiere declaring Gypsy to be “the best orchestrated show
I’ve ever had.”119 The “Overture” was especially surprising with its shockingly
aggressive presentation of strip music punctuated by a screaming trumpet solo
that one would usually expect to hear at the end of a wild big band chart. As has
been demonstrated in this chapter, Ramin and Ginzler paid close attention to aug-
menting what the audience understands about characters and dramatic situations
by supplying apt instrumental combinations or soloists in many moments during
the show. These concerns were nothing new in 1959, but Broadway scholars have
only started to deal with such issues in any detail.
We seldom have the opportunity to hear what shows actually sounded like in
their theaters but the recording of Gypsy’s last night in New York has been noted
above and used as evidence in this chapter. This allows one to hear the audience
responding to the performance: laughing at comic moments and the intentionally
horrible children’s acts; greeting Ethel Merman with wild applause from her ini-
tial entrance through the auditorium and following all of her songs; and reacting
with fervent applause at appropriate moments during the “Overture.” The audi-
ence applauds the conductor’s entrance and mostly listens through the first 3’36”
of the track, although at times one hears the noise from the auditorium during
the arrangements of “Everything’s Coming up Roses,” “You’ll Never Get away
from Me,” and “Small World.” At the abovementioned moment, however, the
brass breaks into the exciting triplets that introduce the strip music, and then the
saxophones join in for the bluesy strip theme. When the second trumpeter rips into
his improvised, high solo, the audience begins to call out and clap, breaking into
sustained applause once the section ends, the ovation lasting from 4’05” to 4’16”.
After a transition, the orchestra starts into “Mr. Goldstone,” riding that bracing
march into the coda, bringing on more sustained applause starting at 4’45”, com-
peting with the orchestra for the last 13 seconds of the music. There are about
another ten seconds of clapping that continues into the next track, only stopping
when stage action commences.
Granted, this was Gypsy’s last night in New York. The “Overture” was hardly
a secret at this point. Many in the audience would have heard the number on the
recording, and perhaps also in a previous visit to the show. This was their last
chance to see Ethel Merman in what had become one of her most famous roles,
180 The orchestration of Gypsy
and the audience embraced her warmly that evening. But there is no mistaking
that the orchestra primed the audience for the performance, taking them straight
back to the 1930s and that place that Kander and Ebb later described in the song
“All That Jazz.” In Gypsy, however, the orchestra was even hotter, and by the end
of the show similar music would take Gypsy Rose Lee to the pinnacle of the bur-
lesque world and then her mother to a place where she bares her soul in “Rose’s
Turn.” Styne, Ramin, and Ginzler understood what to do with the orchestra, pro-
viding the icing for the show’s cake from the depths of the pit of the Imperial
Theatre, where the show had moved from Broadway the previous summer. From
there, it left to tour starting in late March of 1961, retaining a semblance of the
original production until it closed in St. Louis in November 1961. It has since
entered the permanent repertory of American musical theater, passing into new
productions, including some in which the orchestrations of Ramin and Ginzler
still work their magic.

Notes
1 Arthur Laurents, Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood (New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), 378–79.
2 Stephen Citron, Sondheim and Lloyd-Webber: The New Musical (Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 87.
3 Theodore Taylor, Jule: The Story of Composer Jule Styne (New York: Random House,
1979), 192–93.
4 Numerous authors have told the story, but it is difficult to know exactly what happened
and when. Plausible, if conflicting, accounts may be found in Laurents, Original Story
By, 375; Keith Garebian, The Making of Gypsy (Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 1998),
32–35; and elsewhere.
5 Laurents, Original Story By, 376–77.
6 Laurents, Original Story By, 377–78.
7 Laurents, Original Story By, 379.
8 Laurents, Original Story By, 380.
9 Laurents, Original Story By, 380.
10 It is also possible that Merman suggested Styne to write the music at the time that
her camp rejected Sondheim. See: Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., ed., Broadway Song and
Story: Playwrights/Lyricists/Composers Discuss Their Hits (New York: Dodd, Mead
& Company, 1985), 56.
11 Taylor, 197.
12 Laurents, Original Story By, 380.
13 Taylor, 198.
14 Guernsey, 71.
15 Stephen Sondheim, Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant
Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes (New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, 2010), 56.
16 Guernsey, ed., 57.
17 Laurents, Original Story By, 380.
18 Jeffrey Magee, “Whose Turn Is It? Where Gypsy’s Finale Came From, and Where It
Went,” Studies in Musical Theatre 13, no. 2 (2019): 119.
19 Craig Zadan, Sondheim & Co., 2nd ed., updated (New York: Perennial Library, 1989),
47.
20 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 61.
21 Zadan, 39.
 The orchestration of Gypsy 181
22 Laurents, Original Story By, 381. Styne states this while offering several other com-
ments and stories about his work with Sondheim in: Interview of Jule Styne by
Michael Feinstein, provided as bonus track on: Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim,
Gypsy, 50th Anniversary Edition, CD (New York: Masterworks Broadway, distrib-
uted by Sony, 2009). Consulted on: https​:/​/ww​​w​.you​​tube.​​com​/w​​atch?​​v​=Quh​​​OauFt​​
ZBU, accessed 16 November 2020.
23 Taylor, 202.
24 Citron, 88.
25 Taylor, 204.
26 Citron, 91.
27 Guernsey, 65.
28 Magee, 123.
29 Laurents, Original Story By, 381.
30 Laurents, Original Story By, 381.
31 Taylor, 203.
32 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 68.
33 Magee, 123.
34 Guernsey, ed., 60.
35 Taylor, 197.
36 Zadan, 41.
37 Mel Gussow, “Jule Styne at 81: Notes on a 2,000-Song Career,” New York Times,
March 1, 1987, H4.
38 Alex Witchel, “Jule Styne’s Music to Live By, Composed in the Key of ‘Gee’,” New
York Times, December 23, 1990: H5.
39 The following piano/vocal score is the source for the song lyrics referenced in this
chapter: Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy (New York: Williamson Music Inc.
and Stratford Music Corporation, 1960).
40 Zadan, 41.
41 Zadan, 41.
42 Laurents, Original Story By, 378.
43 Laurents, Original Story By, 378.
44 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 66–68.
45 Magee, 128.
46 Zadan, 42–44.
47 “Finding Aid, Sid Ramin Papers, Circa 1957–2009, Bulk 1957–1995,” https​:/​/fi​​nding​​
aids.​​libra​​ry​.co​​lumbi​​a​.edu​​/ead/​​nnc​-r​​b​/ldp​​d​_4​07​​9249/​​dsc​/2​, accessed 25 July 2020.
48 According to the Styne Office, Mathilde Pincus, Don Walker’s partner in Chelsea
Music and supervisor of copying orchestral parts for many Broadway musicals,
would ensure that a piano/vocal score with all of the music and many orchestral cues
would be copied for a show’s composer. This is one of the “parts” in the set for pit
orchestra supplied by the Styne Office, but it would not have been used in the pit.
There is a separate part for the pit pianist. As Suskin notes (The Sound of Broadway
Music: A Book of Orchestrators & Orchestrations [New York: Oxford University
Press, 2009], 152–53), Pincus worked as supervisor of copyists on about 150 shows,
but she did not receive credit for filling this capacity for Gypsy. See: https​:/​/ww​​w​.ibd​​
b​.com​​/broa​​dway-​​cast-​​staff​​/math​​ilde-​​pin​cu​​s​-902​​50, accessed 14 September 2020.
49 Suskin, 414.
50 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 58–60. Sondheim reports on Merman not wishing to
shock her fans and about how they solved the number’s opening.
51 Gypsy, Live Audio Recording of Broadway Closing Night, 25 March 1961
(Unpublished).
52 Suskin, 414.
53 Suskin, 308.
54 Suskin, 414.
182 The orchestration of Gypsy
55 Suskin, 412–14.
56 For the listing of these numbers in the collection, see: https​:/​/fi​​nding​​aids.​​libra​​ry​.co​​
lumbi​​a​.edu​​/ead/​​nnc​-r​​b​/ldp​​d​_407​​9249/​​dsc​​/2​​#subs​​eries​​_3, accessed 3 July 2020. The
Finding Guide presents the title of the final number as “The Exotic,” but the title on
the number is “The Exotic Jerkoff.”
57 Garebian, 39–40, 100, 104.
58 Suskin, 293.
59 Suskin, 292–93.
60 The progress of the tour appears in Caryl Flinn’s Brass Diva: The Life and Legends
of Ethel Merman (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007), 322–27. A
few other dates are filled in by Brian Kellow in his Ethel Merman: A Life (New York:
Viking, 2007), 191–92. Merman reports a 3 October 1961 opening in Los Angeles in
her Merman (with George Eells) (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), 218.
61 https​:/​/ww​​w​.bro​​adway​​world​​.com/​​shows​​/back​​stage​​.php?​​showi​​d​=49​4​​2​#con​​tent,
accessed 7 April 2018.
62 Flinn, 311–12.
63 John O’Dowd, “Lane Bradbury: A Life of Meaning and Purpose” (2008), http:​/​/www​​
.john​​-odow​​d​.com​​/port​​folio​​/lane​​-brad​​bury-​​a​-lif​​e​-of-​​meani​​ng​​-an​​d​-pur​​pose/​, accessed
28 January 2017. O’Dowd interviewed Bradbury about her career. She replaced the
first June, who was fired, and given a six-month contract. Bradbury remembered that
she learned her part quickly in New York while the show was already out-of-town
in Philadelphia. She herself was fired shortly before her contract ended, an action
that probably took place around the time the new version of “If Mama Was Married”
appeared at the end of the piano book on 19 October.
64 William Tesson (d. 1994) was a fixture in the Boston musical community, teaching
at both Northeastern University and the New England Conservatory of Music and
playing with such groups as the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops. See: Randy
Campora, ed., “General News,” ITA Journal 23, no. 2 (Spring 1995): 12–13.
65 Suskin, 211.
66 Suskin, 211. In the reproduced version of the “Overture” partiturs (258/1)—for which
there is no exact original version in the folder of original manuscripts (2/2)—one
finds the “Cow Song” and “Together” included in mm. 146–89. They have not been
crossed out in this undated version of the “Overture,” which is close to what one hears
on the Original Cast Recording with the “Cow Song” and “Together” excised. The
original partiturs demonstrate that the history of the “Overture” is more complicated
than we know. The 64 pages found in 2/2 are a bit of a jumble, but when arranged
logically through page numbers and measure numbers, they include two shorter, pre-
liminary versions of the “Overture,” one dated 18 April, certainly early to be worry-
ing about an overture for a show that premiered in New York City on 21 May. One
of these preliminary versions of the overture includes the “Cow Song” and the other
“Together”; they do not appear together in either rendition. Thanks to TJ Laws-Nicola
for assisting me with sorting out the manuscripts in 2/2.
67 Taylor, 215–16. Taylor also gives Styne credit for writing the show’s overture (p. 215),
which is untrue. Styne claimed credit for working on the overture in 1985 (Guernsey,
71): “I would like to speak about the overture. I wanted to do something in the over-
ture that would let them know that it was about burlesque, among many things. So I
wrote this with Sid Ramin and Robert Ginzler, the orchestrators. We worked it out so
that, at the end, the trumpet player stood up and blew the rafters off. It was just the
most exciting thing.” It is possible that the notes concerning the overture that Ramin
wrote on the piano/vocal score of “All I Need Is the Girl” were taken during a discus-
sion with Styne, but the composer also should have known that it is best to write the
overture later in the process. Also, it must be stated that Styne describes the overture
inaccurately in that quotation because the strip music does not conclude the piece.
68 Gypsy, Live Audio Recording of Broadway Closing Night, 25 March 1961.
 The orchestration of Gypsy 183
69 For some information on this production, see: http:​/​/lyr​​icsta​​ge​.or​​g​/wp/​​2011-​​2012-​​
seaso​​n​/gyp​​sy​-se​​pt​emb​​er​-20​​11/, accessed 14 September 2020. I thank Jay Dias for
sharing the Lyric Stage set of parts with us when we worked on the show’s full score.
70 “Mama’s Talking Soft” was cut during the Philadelphia try-out because the girl play-
ing young Louise was afraid of heights and had trouble ascending the ladder that was
required for the staging, and also because the show was too long. As Sondheim points
out, this created a bit of a problem when material from the song sounds in “Rose’s
Turn.” See: Sondheim, 60 and Guernsey, 63.
71 Bette Midler/Gypsy. Emile Ardolino, director, DVD (RHI Entertainment/Mill Creek
Entertainment, 1993).
72 Gypsy, Jonathan Kent, director, DVD (Shout Broadway, SF 16923, 2015).
73 Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy: Original Broadway Cast Recording, CD
(Sony Classical/Columbia Legacy SK 60848, 1959, 1999).
74 Taylor, 216.
75 Suskin, 208.
76 Suskin, 208.
77 Taylor, 215–17.
78 Taylor, 217–18.
79 Guernsey, 60.
80 Interview of Jule Styne by Michael Feinstein. For information on Bee Palmer, see:
http:​//​www​​.jazz​​age19​​20s​.c​​om​/be​​epalm​​er​/be​​epa​lm​​er​.ph​​p, accessed 16 November 2020.
81 Jowitt, 322.
82 “Gypsy”: A Musical. Book by Arthur Laurents, Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim. Typescript from the Broadway production supplied by Styne
Office, 1-5-21 to 1-5-24. The descriptions from the scene in this paragraph are taken
from Laurents’s stage instructions.
83 Laurents, Original Story By, 384.
84 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 61.
85 Guernsey, 68.
86 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 63.
87 “Gypsy”: A Musical, 1-6-35.
88 Garebian, 80–81.
89 Arthur Laurents, Mainly on Directing: Gypsy, West Side Story, and Other Musicals
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), 20; Taylor, 217.
90 Lawrence, 276.
91 Guernsey, 63–64.
92 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 64.
93 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 64.
94 Taylor, 204.
95 “Gypsy”: A Musical, 1-8-47.
96 “Gypsy”: A Musical, 1-9-57.
97 Laurents, Original Story By, 390.
98 Jowitt, 322–23.
99 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 66.
100 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 66.
101 “Gypsy”: A Musical, 2-1-5.
102 Laurents, Mainly on Directing, 66.
103 Laurents, Original Story By, 386.
104 Violins I part for Gypsy from the Styne Office, [103].
105 Laurents, Original Story By, 382.
106 “Gypsy”: A Musical, 2-4-39.
107 “Gypsy”: A Musical, 2-4-41.
108 Lawrence, 279.
109 Jowitt, 326–27.
184 The orchestration of Gypsy
110 Jowitt, 325–26.
111 Laurents, Mainly on Directing, 21.
112 Lawrence, 273.
113 Guernsey, 70.
114 “Gypsy”: A Musical, 2-5-52.
115 Sondheim, Finishing the Hat, 75.
116 Magee, 117–32.
117 Laurents, Original Story By, 395.
118 Interview of Jule Styne by Michael Feinstein.
119 Telegram shown in: Sid Ramin: A Life in Music. Ramin also reports that Styne asked
him to commit to orchestrating all of his shows in the future, but Ramin did not feel
that he could make that commitment.
6 Concluding thoughts
Orchestration and shared illusions

Creators of musical theater works promote shared illusions, providing a place

for audience members to visit for a few hours, uniting their fantasies and emo-
tions with the multifaceted aspects of a staged production. Successful shows are
those where temporarily we accept the existence of this shared illusion, which
might become a cherished place, not only in the theater but at other times, such
as when we listen to the original cast recording or watch a video. We do not
enter these illusions for objective experiences; we wish to be enthralled and enter-
tained, perhaps even hoping that we might somehow be moved to some kind of a
deeper understanding. These shared illusions emanate from solid things, includ-
ing set pieces, costumes, and performer’s bodies, and also from ephemeral things,
including lighting, stage movement, dialog, and music. Songs and dances are not
necessary for these shared illusions in the theater. Many plays include no music,
or at least very little, and they still might transport us to a different time and place
and concern us deeply with the plight of various characters. It is no secret, how-
ever, that music can provide a powerful component for a play’s shared illusion,
leading, for example, to the development of melodrama in the nineteenth century,
where short instrumental pieces would help set moods for various scenes. The
addition of such passages remains crucial to the effectiveness of films. Music’s
significance is enhanced in musical theater, where songs and dances sometimes
dominate the shared illusion and become the show’s most memorable component.
Small wonder, therefore, that musical theater scores have become such an
important part of what we study about these works, but too often our scholarly
consideration of a score mostly includes commentary on melody, rhythm, har-
mony, form, and, when applicable, musical elements that sound in more than one
number. These are good places to start, but, as we have seen in this study, our
understanding of a musical’s shared illusion becomes more nuanced if we move
onto orchestration. We have concentrated on this craft in terms of its formulation,
execution, and how it complements and enhances characterization and dramatic
impact in West Side Story and Gypsy. Places within the shared illusions in each
show that help to involve the audience are easily visualized. For West Side Story,
the illusion includes views of the tenements where the gangs and their families
live, the gym where the youths dance, Doc’s store where the Jets gather, and
places in the streets where the Jets and Sharks fight. Gypsy’s illusion encompasses

DOI: 10.4324/9780429023378-6
186 Concluding thoughts
theater stages and backstage areas, hotel rooms, and restaurants. We conclude
this study with brief reminders of one aspect of how orchestration, in particular,
helps to animate one place in the shared illusion of each show, a final recognition
of the important roles that Bernstein, Styne, Ramin, Kostal, and Ginzler played in
providing the music in these shows and arranging it for the pit ensembles.
In Chapter 4, we dealt with various soundscapes that one experiences in West
Side Story, types of music associated with groups of people: the lovers, the Jets,
and the Sharks. In terms of place, the street becomes the show’s principal focal
point. Numbers especially descriptive of the street include the “Prologue,” “Jet
Song,” “Cool,” “Tonight Quintet,” and “The Rumble.” Bernstein used irregular
rhythms and unresolved dissonances to useful effect in describing a violent, urban
environment in his film score to On the Waterfront; many of the same effects
sound in these songs from West Side Story, brought vibrantly to life by the orches-
tration. In the “Prologue,” one thinks of a number of such passages, including
the moment at 3’25” (1957 OCR, track 1) when Bernardo pierces A-Rab’s ear
accompanied by cacophonous half notes in the orchestra with flutter-tonguing in
the winds and string tremolo.1 Given the prominence of voices in “The Jet Song,”
one cannot expect such heavy use of instruments, but fill-ins from muted trum-
pets and other winds are never far away, a subtly aggressive accompaniment that
complements the song’s tough lyrics and many cross-rhythms. Although “Cool”
takes place in Doc’s drugstore, the number addresses the way that the Jets present
themselves on the street, and the dance features some of the show’s most intense
choreography outside of fight scenes. The jazzy build-up that leads to a big band
sound at 2’51” (track 7) with three saxophones, bassoon, and brass in full flower
convincingly demonstrates the effectiveness of modern jazz as a descriptor of the
show’s tough urban environment. There are numerous touches in the orchestration
of the “Tonight Quintet” where one vividly hears the show’s urban setting, such
as at the opening (track 9) when the two sixteenths, eighth-note rhythm sounds in
piccolo, two clarinets, trumpets 1 and 2, chime played with metal mallets, snare
drum, and violins. The chime’s metallic clang is surprising and machine-like.
“The Rumble” (track 10) is rife with musical representations of street violence.
Loud, fully scored chords starting at 0’43” as Riff and Bernardo thrust knives at
each other are good examples of the number’s powerful orchestration. The contri-
bution of such moments from the orchestra convincingly helps place the street in
the audience’s shared illusion for West Side Story.
The most important places in Gypsy’s shared illusion are theaters, a long
succession of them as Rose’s tawdry vaudeville act travels around the country
and Louise ascends the burlesque ladder during her strip number late in Act 2.
Numbers that take place in theaters include “Let Me Entertain You,” “Baby June
and Her Newsboys,” “Dainty June and Her Farmboys,” “All I Need Is the Girl,”
“You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” Gypsy’s use of “Let Me Entertain You” as a strip
number, and “Rose’s Turn.” The orchestration in these songs evokes theatrical
entertainment, a show-within-a-show effect, varying from basic to extravagant.
In vaudeville numbers, one hears a small orchestration for the initial “Let Me
Entertain You” at the show’s opening, moving to larger and more elaborate effects
 Concluding thoughts 187
in the two numbers starring June. In “Baby June and Her Newsboys,” for exam-
ple, there is a “Ragtime version” of “Let Me Entertain You,” which, as described
in Chapter 5, first has a light accompaniment and then a full orchestral version,
providing an appropriate, period musical effect. “Dainty June and Her Farmboys”
includes a plethora of novelty orchestrations derived from typical vaudeville
sounds. “All I Need Is the Girl” is a classier evocation of vaudeville, an elegant
orchestration buttressing Tulsa’s demonstration, dance, and verbal description of
his act. The scene is a fantasy on two levels: Tulsa doesn’t know if he will ever
really present his act, and Louise finds him desirable and hopes that he might
notice her. The dance is one of the show’s most extravagant orchestrations outside
of the orchestra’s other theatrical sound: the world of burlesque. The orchestra-
tions for “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” Gypsy’s strip number, and “Rose’s Turn”
have been covered in detail in Chapter 5. The importance of sounds emanating
from the pit in these numbers is amplified because of limitations of what can
appear and be shown on stage. Any burlesque acts will be mild given the fact that
this is a family show, and Gypsy’s strip number is brief, but crucially important to
the drama. “Rose’s Turn” is a mad scene that takes place in the character’s theatri-
cal imagination, where music that the orchestra plays can be as over-the-top as she
might want, an effect supplied in spades by the brass, saxophones, and percussion.
Styne, Ramin, and Ginzler supplied highly effective support in creating the varied
theatrical moments in the show’s shared illusion.
There are many more shows for which this kind of study could be pursued,
efforts that would greatly increase our knowledge and appreciation of Broadway
orchestration. Some of what we think we know about the development of pit
orchestras and how they changed early in the twentieth century could be que-
ried through detailed looks at what Frank Saddler did for Jerome Kern’s early
shows, and how that might compare with, for example, Robert Russell Bennett’s
efforts for Show Boat (1927). There are possible comparisons between pit orches-
tras in the 1920s for operettas and musical comedies, the latter depending more
upon sounds based in jazz. For example, one could consider the orchestrations of
Sigmund Romberg’s operetta The New Moon (1928) by Emil Gerstenberger, Al
Goodman, and Hans Spialek and those for George Gershwin’s Girl Crazy (1930)
by Bennett, William Daly, and the composer.2 Our knowledge of the musical
comedy of the 1930s would be augmented with detailed descriptions of orches-
trations from such shows as Cole Porter’s Anything Goes (1934) by Spialek and
Bennett and Rodgers and Hart’s The Boys from Syracuse (1938) by Spialek and
a number of other craftsmen. The iconic nature of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
output surely influenced orchestrations for other shows, which we would under-
stand better with analysis of, for example, work that Bennett and Menotti Salta
did on Oklahoma! (1943), and the orchestrations from Don Walker and a number
of others for Carousel (1945). Reactions to their work might appear in orchestra-
tions of such shows as Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun (1946) by Philip J.
Lang, Bennett, Ted Royal, and others, and Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate (1948) by
Bennett, Walker, Walter Paul, and Spialek. We have looked at orchestrations from
various shows in the 1950s in detail in Chapters 2, 4, and 5. Since 1960, there are
188 Concluding thoughts
many shows that invite close study. In 1962, two musicals were notable for instru-
ments omitted from the orchestra: Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum, orchestrated by Ramin and Kostal, included no violins;
and Richard Rodgers’s No Strings, with orchestrations by Ralph Burns and addi-
tional work by Peter Matz, featured a pit ensemble in which they realized the
show’s title, except for the inclusion of bass, harp, and guitar.3 Burt Bacharach’s
Promises, Promises (1968), orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick, reflected the com-
poser’s pop sensibility in its music and orchestra, including back-up singers in the
pit. 1776 (1969), score by Sherman Edwards and orchestrations by Eddie Sauter,
included notable and unusual use of musical tropes and sounds from the eight-
eenth century. Jonathan Tunick’s yeoman work for numerous scores by Stephen
Sondheim in the 1970s, culminating in Sweeney Todd (1979), surely deserves
closer study. The entrance of the rock ensemble into Broadway orchestras and its
influence on characterization in the late 1960s and 1970s has been considered for
several major shows by Elizabeth Sallinger in her dissertation “Broadway Starts
to Rock: Musical Theater Orchestrations and Character, 1968–1975,” a useful
model for further work in that area.4 The orchestrations of megamusicals like
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera (1986), by David Cullen and
the composer, and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les Misérables (1985), by John
Cameron, have been studied from a variety of angles, but their orchestrations
deserve detailed attention. Wicked (2003), with its score by Stephen Schwartz
orchestrated by William David Brohn (after Stephen Oremus and Alex Lacamoire
scored the rock elements), has been described in detail in terms of its orchestra-
tion, an effort that demonstrated how rock and traditional elements can be mixed
in the same pit ensemble.5 Obviously many other possible topics for detailed work
on Broadway orchestration could be suggested—such as studies of individual
orchestrators—but the point is clear. This is an area ripe for additional work in
terms of both the execution of orchestration and its consequences for a show’s
artistic success and influence. West Side Story and Gypsy were significant steps
in the field’s development, and we must learn more to better understand the con-
text that surrounds these works and the efforts of such Broadway orchestrators as
Leonard Bernstein, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal, and Robert “Red” Ginzler.

Notes
1 Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story, Original Broadway Cast
[1957] (Columbia CK 32603, 1973), CD.
2 The orchestrators of most shows in this paragraph have been gleaned from: Steven
Suskin, The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators & Orchestrations
(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 314–607. For some later
shows, the information came from www​.ibdb​.com, accessed 22 November 2020.
3 Suskin, 493.
4 (PhD dissertation, University of Kansas, 2016.)
5 See: Paul R. Laird, Wicked: A Musical Biography (Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press,
Inc., 2011), 213–50.
Copyright Acknowledgements

“Prologue” by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim

©1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 by Amberson Holdings LLC
and Stephen Sondheim.
Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, Publisher.
Boosey & Hawkes, A Concord Company
Used With Permission. All Rights Reserved.

“America” by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim

©1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 by Amberson Holdings LLC
and Stephen Sondheim.
Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, Publisher.
Boosey & Hawkes, A Concord Company
Used With Permission. All Rights Reserved.

“Dance at the Gym” by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim

©1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 by Amberson Holdings LLC
and Stephen Sondheim.
Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, Publisher.
Boosey & Hawkes, A Concord Company
Used With Permission. All Rights Reserved.

“Somewhere” by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim

©1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 by Amberson Holdings LLC
and Stephen Sondheim.
Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, Publisher.
Boosey & Hawkes, A Concord Company
Used With Permission. All Rights Reserved.

“Paris Waltz Scene” by Leonard Bernstein

©1955, 1958 by Amberson Holdings LLC.
Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, Publisher.
Boosey & Hawkes, A Concord Company
Used With Permission. All Rights Reserved.
190 Copyright Acknowledgements
“Bon Voyage” by Leonard Bernstein and Richard Wilbur
©1955, 1958 by Amberson Holdings LLC.
Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company LLC, Publisher.
Boosey & Hawkes, A Concord Company
Used With Permission. All Rights Reserved.

Permission from Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. for quoting

Bernstein’s words in his music manuscripts and other writings.
Letters by Leonard Bernstein © Amberson Holdings LLC.
Used by permission of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.

Permission from Ron Ramin to reproduce manuscripts from the

Sid Ramin Papers in the Columbia University Archives.
Index

Note: Page locators in italics refer to figures and bold refer to tables.

“Abbondanza” (The Most Happy Fella) 28 Axelrod, George 54

Abbott, George 26, 28, 46, 48–49, 52
Abraham Lincoln: A Likeness in Symphony “Baby June and Her Newboys” (Gypsy)
Form (Bennett) 18 145, 149, 186–87; orchestration of
“Act I Finale” (1600 Pennsylvania 165–66
Avenue) 91 “Baby Talk to Me” (Bye Bye Birdie) 65
Adams, Edie 13 Bach, Johann Sebastian 78
Adams, Roger 67 Bacharach, Burt 188
Adler, Richard 7, 10–11, 28, 34, 60, 67, 69 “Balcony Scene” (West Side Story) 78,
“Ain’t It the Truth” (Jamaica) 11 85, 93, 96, 98, 108, 121; orchestration
Alarums and Flourishes 91 of 115–16
Alexander, David 53 “Ballad of the Gun” (Destry Rides
All American 65 Again) 12
“All I Need Is the Girl” (Gypsy) 141, 143, Ballad style 10–11, 14, 31, 46, 52, 54–55,
145, 149, 150–51, 182n67, 186–87; 67, 112, 161, 164, 167
orchestration of 153, 154–56, 157–58, “Ballet at the Village Vortex” (Wonderful
170–72 Town) 64
“All That Jazz” (Chicago) 180 barbershop style 10, 68
Allah Be Praised! 26 Barer, Marshall 8
Allen, Steve 60 Barrie, James M. 48
Alpert, Herb 61 Bartók, Béla 122
Alton, Robert 17, 53 “Bathing Beauty Ballet” (High Button
“America” (West Side Story) 11, 87, 120, Shoes) 52
123, 127–28; orchestration of 99–107, “Battle Scene” (Candide) 94
117–18 Beat the Band 63
The American Dance Machine 56 “Because of You” (Mr. Wonderful) 10
Andrews, Julie 9, 13, 32, 69 Beck, Arthur 60
Anita (character in West Side Story) 77, Beethoven, Ludwig van 108
100, 102, 113, 117–18, 121, 128–29 Beiderbecke, Bix 51, 62
Ankles Aweigh 64 Bells are Ringing 8, 11–13, 19, 29, 31, 55,
Anna Christie 9 57, 60, 77, 81, 136
Annie Get Your Gun 19–20, 187 Beloin, Edmund 53
Anything Goes 19, 172–73, 187 Bennett, Robert Russell 2, 5, 14–27,
Appalachian Spring (Copland) 87 29–33, 38, 55, 60, 66–67, 162, 187;
Arlen, Harold 8, 10–11 Instrumentally Speaking 22–25;
Arturo Ui 56 “Orchestrating for Broadway” 22–23
Ashman, Howard 61 Bergersen, Baldwin 26
192 Index
Berlin, Irving 7, 10, 12, 14, 19–21, 27, 63, “Build My House” (Peter Pan) 48
135, 187 burlesque style 11, 43, 51, 135–37, 139,
Bernardo (character in West Side Story) 146, 151, 160–61, 167, 174–76, 178–79,
110–11, 113, 121–24, 127, 186 182n67, 186–87
Bernstein, Elmer 130 “Burn” (Hamilton) 4
Bernstein, Felicia 79, 84–85 Burnett, Carol 13, 56–57, 69
Bernstein, Leonard 1–3, 5, 7–11, 13–14, Burns, Ralph 188
26, 57–61, 66, 68–70, 129–30, 132n51, Burrows, Abe 53, 55–56
134n108, 137, 186, 188; on lyrics 12; Busch, Carl 18
on orchestration 34–37, 43–50, 76–129; “But Not for Me” (Girl Crazy) 31
see also orchestration By Jupiter 26, 63
Best Foot Forward 17, 26 By the Beautiful Sea 13
big band style 22, 36, 45, 87, 109, 111–14, “Bye, Bye, Baby” (Gentlemen Prefer
120, 127, 176, 179, 186 Blondes) 53
“Big D” (The Most Happy Fella) 28 Bye Bye Birdie 11, 64–65
“Birth of the Blues” (Mr. Wonderful) 11
Bissell, Marian 55 Cabaret 29
Bissell, Richard 55 La Cage aux Folles 140
Bizet, Georges 16, 45, 173 Cahn, Sammy 52, 56–57, 139, 168
Blane, Ralph 26 Cain, James M. 77
Blitzstein, Marc 7, 9, 45, 48, 78 Call Me Madam 7–8, 10, 12, 27
Bloomer Girl 19 Camelot 19
“The Bloozy Cool” (Gypsy) 146 Cameron, John 188
“Blow, Gabriel, Blow” (Anything Can-Can 7, 9, 13
Goes) 172 Candide 8–11, 13, 49–50, 77–79, 81,
“Blue River” (Ginzler) 62 90–91, 94
“Blues” (West Side Story) 11, 88–89, Carmen (Bizet) 45, 173
112–13 Carmen Jones 16, 19, 22
blues style 11, 16, 26, 35, 37, 43, 45–46, Carousel 13, 16, 24–27, 177, 187
49, 51, 78, 80, 87, 110, 114, 146, “Carried Away” (On the Town) 26
160–61, 175–77, 179 The Cat and the Fiddle 16, 21
Bock, Jerry 5, 7–8, 10, 29, 54, 68–69 “Cha-Cha” (West Side Story) 96, 98,
“Bon Voyage” (Candide) 94 113–14, 120, 124, 129
boogie-woogie style 27, 45–46 cha-cha style 11, 113
Booth, Shirley 13 Channing, Carol 52–53, 57
bop style 10, 47, 78, 87, 110, 119–20 Chaplin, Saul 130
Born To Dance 19 Charlap, Mark (Moose) 7, 54, 60
Borodin, Alexander 7, 9 Chelsea Music 17, 27, 34, 63, 181n48
Boulanger, Nadia 18–19 Chichester Psalms (Bernstein) 88, 122
The Boy Friend 7–9, 13 Chodorov, Jerome 34, 36, 49
“A Boy Like That/I Have a Love” (West A Chorus Line 6
Side Story) 78, 96–97, 113, 128–29, “Christopher Street” (Wonderful
177; orchestration of 127–28 Town) 64
The Boys from Syracuse 187 “Clementine (from New Orleans)”
Bradbury, Lane 148 (Ginzler) 62
Brahms, Johannes 167 Cohan, George M. 15
Bravo Giovanni 65 Cohen, Alexander H. 53
Brecht, Bertolt 7, 56, 94 Coleman, Cy 60
Britten, Benjamin 78 Comden, Betty 7–8, 10, 12, 26, 31, 34,
“Broadway” (Gypsy) 141, 145, 149, 36–37, 46, 49, 53–57, 77, 135
152, 169 “Come Alive, You’re in the Pepsi
Brohn, William David 19, 61, 188 Generation” (S. Ramin) 61
Brynner, Yul 13 “Come up to My Place” (On the Town)
Bucci, Mark 28 26, 46
 Index  193
Company 65 Drake, Alfred 13
Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra “Dream Ballet” (West Side Story) 1,
(Gershwin) 13 128–29; orchestration of 124–26
“Conga!” (Wonderful Town) 49, 64 “Dream with Me” (Peter Pan) 48
conga style 11, 49 Dreyfus, Max 13–15, 18, 25–27
A Connecticut Yankee 26 “Drop That Name” (Bells Are Ringing)
The Conquering Hero 60, 65 31, 55
“Conquering the City Ballet” (Wonderful Dubarry Was a Lady 17
Town) 28, 94
“Conversation Piece” (Wonderful Early to Bed 63
Town) 49 Ebb, Fred 29, 180
Cook, Barbara 13 Edwards, Sherman 188
“Cool” (West Side Story) 1, 10, 78, 96, 98, Eiger, Walter 28, 68
104, 107, 109, 129, 186; orchestration Elgar, Edward 145
of 118–20 “Entr’acte” (Gypsy) 145, 149
cool jazz 10, 78, 109–10, 119; see also “Ethel’s Entrance” (Gypsy) 142–43, 146,
“Cool” (West Side Story) 149; orchestration of 162; see also “Let
Copland, Aaron 45–46, 48, 78, 87, 117 Me Entertain You” (Gypsy)
Copperfield 69 Evans, Gil 119
“The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands” “Every Street’s a Boulevard in Old New
(Li’l Abner) 11 York” (Styne) 54
Country style 11–12, 67–68 “Everything’s Coming up Roses” (Gypsy)
“The Cow Song” (Gypsy) 141, 145, 138–39, 141, 144–46, 148, 149, 150,
150–52, 169, 182n66 159–60, 167, 179; orchestration of
Coward, Noël 69 172–73
The Cradle Will Rock 45 “The Exotic Jerkoff” (Gypsy) 146
Crawford, Cheryl 81
Crazy for You 61 Fabray, Nanette 52–53, 57
Cullen, David 188 Facsimile 91, 122
Fade Out – Fade In 56
“Dainty June and Her Farmboys” (Gypsy) A Family Affair 65
186–87; orchestration of 168–69 Fancy Free (Bernstein) 45–46, 87, 99, 122
Daly, William 187 Fanny 7, 13
Damn Yankees 7, 9–11, 13, 28–29, 34, Farnon, Robert 63, 65
64, 67 Farrell, Anthony B. 53–54
A Damsel in Distress 19 Feigay, Paul 46
“Dance at the Gym” (West Side Story) 11, Feuer, Cy 51
78, 82, 88–89; orchestration of 112–14 Fiddler on the Roof 6, 25–26, 29, 69
Dance Me a Song 66 Fields, Dorothy 8
“Danzon” (Fancy Free) 99 Fields, Joseph 34, 36, 49, 52
Darling of the Day 56 “Figure 8 Waltz” (Gypsy) 146
Davis, Miles 78, 119 “Finale” (West Side Story) 96, 126;
Davis Jr., Sammy 9, 13, 54 orchestration of 128–29
De Pack, Maurice 16 Fine, Sidney 28, 68
De Paul, Gene 8, 11, 69 Finian’s Rainbow 19, 27
Debussy, Claude 109, 113, 156–57, 172 Fiorello! 8–9, 68–69
Destry Rides Again 8, 12–13 First Impressions 56, 64
“Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” The Firstborn 49
(Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) 53 Flahooley 13
Donnybrook! 65 Flower Drum Song 8–9, 13, 19
“Do—Re—Mi” (Sound of Music) 29, 32 Follies 65
Do Re Mi 56, 60 Ford, Phil 58
“Down in the Depths (on the 90th Floor)” Forrest, George 7, 10, 47
(Red, Hot and Blue!) 26 Fosse, Bob 55, 66–67
194 Index
Foster, Stephen 66 Greenberg, Noah 49
Four Freedoms Symphony (Bennett) 20 Grieg, Edvard 169
“XIV Sanctus” (Mass) 95 Griffith, Andy 13
fox-trot 10 Griffith, Robert 67, 69, 81
Freedman, Gerald 139, 178 Guys and Dolls 7–10, 13
“Friendship” (Anything Goes) 173 Gypsy 1–3, 5–6, 8–12, 14, 16–17, 29,
Friml, Rudolf 16 38, 43–44, 52, 55–57, 60–61, 64, 70,
Fryer, Robert 48 78, 83, 95, 98, 114, 135–80, 181n48,
Funny Girl 56–57, 140 185–86, 188
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to “Gypsy Strip” (Gypsy) 139, 145, 149,
the Forum 60, 69, 83, 95, 136, 188 150, 151, 162; orchestration of 175–77;
Furst, William 18 see also “Let Me Entertain You” (Gypsy)

“The Game” (Damn Yankees) 29, 34 Hague, Albert 7–8, 10

Gardner, Herb 56 Hair 11
Garson, Henry 53 Halil: Nocturne (Bernstein) 95
“Gee, Officer Krupke” (West Side Story) Hallelujah, Baby! 56
78, 96, 98; orchestration of 126–27 Hamilton 4, 6
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 27, 52–53, Hamlisch, Marvin 61
55–57 Hammerstein II, Oscar 6–10, 12, 16, 19,
Gershwin, George 5, 13–14, 16, 19, 31, 24, 28, 33, 70, 77, 136, 177–78, 187;
61, 187 see also Richard, Rodgers
Gershwin, Ira 31 Happy Hunting 12, 64, 81
Gerstenberger, Emil 16, 187 Harburg, E. Y. 8, 10, 12, 56
Gibb, Cynthia 159 Harnick, Sheldon 8, 10, 29, 68–69
Gigi 69 Harrison, Rex 13, 30
Gilbert, George 54–56 Hart, Lorenz 17, 26, 46, 53–54, 63, 187;
Gilbert, W.S. 26–27, 45, 55; see also see also Rodgers, Richard
Sullivan, Arthur Haydn, Franz Joseph 51
Gillespie, Dizzy 78, 114 Hayward, Leland 135, 176
Ginzler, Robert ”Red” 2–3, 5, 14, 17, 25, Hazel Flagg 27, 53–54, 59
27–29, 35, 43–44, 55, 59–70, 79, 83, 98, “Heart” (Damn Yankees) 64
114, 150–51, 179–80, 182n67, 186–88; Hecht, Ben 54
on Gyspy orchestration 140–49, 153–57, Hellman, Lillian 49–50
159–62, 164–78; see also orchestration Herbert, Victor 13, 15
Girl Crazy 19, 22, 31, 187 Herbie (character in Gypsy) 160, 164,
The Girls Against the Boys 60, 64 166–70, 172–75, 177–78
“Give a Little, Get a Little” (Two on the Herman, Jerry 5
Aisle) 53 “Hernando’s Hideaway” (The Pajama
“Give Me Five Minutes More” (Styne) 52 Game) 67
Glad to See Ya! 52 Herscher, Sylvia 54
Glickman, Will 54 “Hey There” (The Pajama Game) 67
“Glitter and Be Gay” (Candide) 50 High Button Shoes 52, 57, 139, 172
Glover, Joe 27, 54–55 Hill, Edward Burlingame 86–87
Goberman, Max 79, 108 Hilliard, Bob 54
Goldkette, Jean 62 Hirschhorn, Joel 69
Good News 16 HMS Pinafore 26
Goodman, Al 25, 187 Hold Everything 16
Goodman, Benny 36, 51, 63 Holliday, Judy 13, 55, 57, 81
“Goodnight Sweetheart” (Noble) 57 Holofcener, Larry 7, 54
Gottlieb, Alex 54 “Hook’s Waltz” (Peter Pan) 54
Green, Johnny 130 Horne, Lena 13
Green Adolph 7–8, 10, 12, 26, 31, 34, Horwitt, Arnold B. 7
36–37, 46, 49, 53–57, 77, 135 Hot Spot 65
 Index  195
House Un-American Activities Committee 82, 87, 110–14, 118–20, 160, 176–77,
(HUAC) 50 186–87; see also big band; bop; cool
“How Beautiful the Days” (The Most jazz; swing
Happy Fella) 28 Jerome Robbins’ Broadway 56, 61
“How Do You Speak to an Angel? “Jet Song” (West Side Story) 96–97, 108,
(Styne) 54 110–11, 113, 186; orchestration of
How to Succeed in Business Without 111–12
Really Trying 65 “Joey, Joey, Joey” (The Most Happy
Huapango (Moncayo) 117 Fella) 28
Jones, Stephen O. 27
“I Am So Easily Assimilated” “Jump” (West Side Story) 88, 113, 115
(Candide) 11 June (character in Gypsy) 135, 143, 146,
“I Can Cook Too” (On the Town) 26, 46 148, 152, 158, 162, 164–66, 168–70,
I Can Get It for You Wholesale 60, 95 172–73, 176–77, 187
“I Could Have Danced All Night” (My “June Is a Jew, So Change It to Clare”
Fair Lady) 4 (Gypsy) 146
“I Feel Like I’m Not Out of Bed Yet” (On Juno 13
the Town) 46 “Just in Time” (Bells Are Ringing) 55
“I Feel Pretty” (West Side Story) 96, 98,
108; orchestration of 123–24 Kander, John 29, 138, 157, 159, 180
“I had a dream” motive (Gypsy) 139, 144, Kasha, Al 69
150–51, 158, 160–61, 163–64, 172, 178 Kay, Hershy 14, 26, 46, 48, 50, 61
“I Still Get Jealous” (High Button Kaye, Stubby 12–13, 58
Shoes) 52 Kelly, Gene 17
“Ice Cream Sociable” (The Music Man) 68 Kelly, Tom 159
“If Mama Was Married” (Gypsy) 139, Kemp, Hal 94, 132n64
141, 145, 148–49, 152; orchestration of Kern, Jerome 5, 13, 15–16, 19–21, 187
169–70 Key, Leonard 53
“If You Hadn’t, But You Did” (Two on the “Keystone Kops Ballet” (High Button
Aisle) 53 Shoes) 52
“I’ll Never Be Jealous Again” “Kids” (Bye Bye Birdie) 65
(The Pajama Game) 64 The King and I 7–9, 13, 19
“I’ll Walk Alone” (Styne) 52 Kipness, Joseph 52
“I’m in Pursuit of Happiness” (Ruggles of Kismet 7, 9, 13
Red Gap) 168 Kiss Me, Kate 19, 22, 187
“I’m Past My Prime” (Li’l Abner) 11–12 Kleinsinger, George 68
In Any Language 53 klezmer 29
“In Betwixt and Between” (High Button Knoblauch, Edward 9
Shoes) 139 Kosarin, Oscar 54
Irma La Douce 65 Kostal, Irwin 2–3, 5, 14, 17, 28–29,
“It’s a Perfect Relationship” (Bells Are 35, 37, 43–44, 59–61, 65–70, 80,
Ringing) 55 83–85, 92–93, 95–99, 102–4, 107–9,
It’s All Yours 58 116, 119, 129–30, 132n51, 145,
“It’s Love” (Wonderful Town) 64 186, 188
“It’s Magic” (Styne) 52 Koussevitzky, Serge 46–47, 87
“It’s the Same Old Dream” (Styne) 52 Kreisler, Fritz 19
“It’s the Second Time You Meet That Kwamina 60, 69
Matters” (Say, Darling) 55
“I’ve Heard That Song Before” (Styne) 52 Lacamoire, Alex 188
The Lady in Red 59
Jacoby, Elliott 26, 46 Lady in the Dark 6, 19
Jamaica 8–9, 11–13 Lane, Burton 27
jazz style 10–11, 16, 26–29, 35–37, 43, Lang, Phil 14–15, 30, 52–53, 55, 162, 187
45–49, 51, 55, 58, 61–62, 64, 67, 78, 80, The Lark 49
196 Index
Latin music style 11, 43, 45, 78, 80, 82, “Mama’s Talkin’ Soft” (Gypsy) 141, 151,
109–10, 113–14, 117–18, 123, 145; 158, 164, 183n70
see also “America” (West Side Story) “Mama’s Turn” (Gypsy) 143, 146, 148–49;
Latouche, John 8, 50 orchestration of 177–79; see also
Laurents, Arthur 1, 76–78, 80–81, 86, 91, “Rose’s Turn” (Gypsy)
123, 135–40, 160, 165–66, 168, 171–78 “Mambo” (West Side Story) 78, 88, 109,
Lawrence, Elliot 64 113–14, 128–29
Lawrence, Gertrude 13 mambo style 11, 78, 113; see also “Who’s
Lawrence, Jack 27 Got the Pain?” (Damn Yankees)
Leave It to Me! 26 “A Man Doesn’t Know” (Damn
Leigh, Carolyn 7, 54 Yankees) 67
Lend an Ear 52 “Manteca” (Gillespie) 114
Lerner, Alan Jay 7, 10, 12, 19, 29–30, 47, march style 10, 32–34, 37, 68, 121, 126,
61, 69 152, 161, 165–67, 179
“Let It Snow” (Styne) 52 Maria (character in West Side Story) 1, 78,
“Let Me Entertain You” (Gypsy) 139, 93, 113–16, 120–21, 123–29
141, 144, 152, 165–66, 170, 186–87; “Maria” (West Side Story) 11, 78, 88, 96,
orchestration of 162, 175–77; see also 113–16, 120, 124–25; orchestration
“Ethel’s Entrance” (Gypsy);“Gypsy of 115
Strip” (Gypsy) Maria Malibran (Bennett) 19
Let’s Face It! 26 “Marian the Librarian” (The Music
Lewine, Richard 60 Man) 68
“Lida Rose” (The Music Man) 68 Marion Jr., George 26
Liebman, Max 67, 69 “The Mark of a Man: The Monroviad”
Li’l Abner 8, 11, 13 (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue) 95
“A Little Bit in Love” (Wonderful Martin, Hugh 26, 53
Town) 49 Martin, Mary 13, 54, 57
“A Little Girl from Little Rock” Mason, Jack 30, 54
(Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) 53 Mass (Bernstein) 61, 90, 95
“Little Lamb” (Gypsy) 138, 141, 145, 147, Matz, Peter 188
149, 152, 160, 166; orchestration of 167 May Wine 25
“A Little More Heart” (Hazel Flagg) 59 Me and Juliet 7, 10–11, 28–29, 33
The Little Prince and the Aviator 29 Meet Me in St. Louis 78
Lloyd Webber, Andrew 188 “Meeting Scene” (West Side Story) 96,
Loesser, Frank 5, 7, 9–10, 28, 47 108, 113, 115–16, 120, 129
Loewe, Frederick 7, 10, 14, 19, 29–30, Memphis Bound 26–27
47, 69 Mercer, Johnny 8, 11, 69
“Lonely Room” (Oklahoma!) 17, 177 Merman, Ethel 12, 26, 57, 78, 135–36,
“Lonely Town” (On the Town) 46 138–39, 144, 147–49, 162–64, 172–73,
Look Ma, I’m Dancin’ 63 177–79
Look to the Lilies 56 Merrick, David 60, 135–36, 167
Loos, Anita 52–53 Merrill, Bob 8, 10, 56–57, 61
Lorelei 56 The Merry Widow 16
Louise (character in Gypsy) 12, 143, Midler, Bette 159, 170, 173, 178
152, 156, 158–59, 162, 164–78, The Miraculous Mandarin (Bartók) 122
183n70, 186–87 Les Misérables 188
“Love Tale of the Alsace-Lorraine” Miss Liberty 27, 63
(Walker) 25 Miss Lonelyhearts 55
Lucky 16 “Mr. Goldstone, I Love You” (Gypsy) 141,
144, 146, 149–50, 152, 158, 161, 167,
Maggie 27–28 179; orchestration of 166–67
Make a Wish 53 Mr. Wonderful 7, 9–11, 13, 54
“Make Our Garden Grow” (Candide) 50 Moncayo, Luis Pablo 117
 Index  197
“Monkey in the Mango Tree” (Jamaica) 11 “One Hundred Ways to Lose a Man”
“Morning Mood” (Peer Gynt) 169 (Wonderful Town) 11, 29, 35
Morris, John 64 One Night Stand 56
The Most Happy Fella 7, 9–10, 28, 47 One Touch of Venus 16
Mother Goose Suite (Ravel) 108 O’Neill, Eugene 9
“Mother’s Day” (Gypsy) 141, 152, 178 “Opening” (West Side Story) 90
“Mu-Cha-Cha” (Bells Are Ringing) 11 opera style 9–10, 13, 16, 26, 28, 45, 48–49,
The Music Man 8–10, 13, 25, 28, 68 61, 69, 76, 79, 115–16, 121, 123, 177
“Music to Watch Girls By” (S. Ramin) 61 operetta style 9–10, 15–16, 27, 50, 67, 187
musical comedy 2, 6, 8–9, 15–16, 19, 46, orchestration: in characterization 1,
48, 173, 177, 187 12, 108–29, 160–79; Bernstein and
musical play 2, 6, 8–9, 173, 177 holographic piano/vocal scores and
Mussorgsky, Modest 109 short scores 91–95; Bernstein and
“My Darlin’ Eileen” (Wonderful Town) 49 orchestration 95–140; Bernstein and
My Fair Lady 4, 7, 9–10, 12–13, 15, 19, sketches 87–91; “11 and piano” 15; “15
29–31, 81 and piano” 15–16; Ginzler and Ramin
My Sister Eileen 36, 48 and Gypsy piano/vocal scores and short
“Mysterious Lady” (Peter Pan) 54 scores 140–42; Gypsy process 140–58;
orchestrator abilities 4–5, 13–17, 20–24,
“Napoleon” (Jamaica) 9 29–37; partiturs in Gypsy 142–46; West
Newman, Ruby 64 Side Story process 80–99
“Neverland” (Peter Pan) 54 Oremus, Stephen 188
New Girl in Town 8–9, 13, 67 Osterman Jr., Lester 54–55
The New Moon 187 “Overture” (Gypsy) 139, 146, 150–51,
“New York, New York” (On the Town) 46 175–77, 179, 182n66–7; orchestration
“Nice She Ain’t” (Gypsy) 141, 153 of 160–62
“No Other Love” (Me and Juliet) 11, 29, Overture to Candide (Bernstein) 90
33, 37
No Strings 188 The Pajama Game 7, 9–11, 28, 55, 64, 67
Noeltner, Robert 55 Pal Joey 28, 53, 57
Norman, Marsha 56, 61 Panama Hattie 26
Nowhere to Go but Up 60, 65 “Papa, Won’t You Dance with Me? (High
Button Shoes) 52
Of Thee I Sing 6, 19, 28, 64 “Paris Waltz Scene” (Candide) 90–91
Oh, I Say 15 A Party with Betty Comden & Adolph
“Oh, Promise Me” (Robin Hood) 35 Green 55
Oh Captain! 64 “The Party’s Over” (Bells Are Ringing) 29,
“Ohio” (Wonderful Town) 11, 28, 49, 94 31–32, 38, 55
Oklahoma! 6, 13, 16–17, 19–21, 46, “Pass the Football” (Wonderful Town) 29,
177, 187 37, 49, 67
“Old Folks at Home” (Foster) 66 Paul, Walter 187
Omnibus 77 “Pavane of Sleeping Beauty” (Mother
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever 19 Goose Suite by Ravel) 108
On the Town 26, 45–46, 49, 79, 90 Peer Gynt (Grieg) 169
On the Waterfront 92, 110, 122, 186 Perfectly Frank 56
On Your Toes 17 Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev) 108
“Once Knew a Fella” (Destry Rides Peter Pan 7, 12–13, 48, 54, 57
Again) 12 Phantom of the Opera 188
Once Upon a Mattress 8, 13 Piano Concerto in D (Haydn) 51
“One Hand, One Heart” (West Side Story) “Pick-Pocket Tango” (Redhead) 11
78, 86, 96, 98, 120; orchestration of 120 Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky) 109
“One Hundred Easy Ways” (Wonderful Pincus, Mathilde 27, 181n48
Town) 34–35, 49, 64 Pinza, Ezio 13
198 Index
Pipe Dream 7–8 Redhead 8–11, 13
Piston, Walter 86 Reiner, Fritz 20, 87
Pitot, Geneviève 52, 70 Rent 6
Plain and Fancy 7, 13 “Reveille” 145
polka style 52 Rex 69
Popp, André 65 Riff (character in West Side Story) 77,
Porgy and Bess (Gershwin) 13, 20, 162 111–12, 121–24, 186
Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture Rigby, Harry 53
(Bennett) 20 The Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) 122
Porter, Cole 5, 7, 9–10, 12, 14, 17, 19–21, Rittmann, Trude 47, 70
26, 28, 47, 68, 78, 135, 173, 187 Roach, Max 110
Pozo, Chano 114 Robbins, Jerome 1, 45–46, 52, 54–55,
Prado, Pérez 78 76–81, 84–85, 94, 119, 121–22, 128,
“Prelude to Act I: Middle C” (1600 135–39, 146, 153, 157, 160, 162, 165,
Pennsylvania Avenue) 95 167, 171–72, 176–78
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun Robin, Leo 52–53, 55, 168
(Debussy) 109 rock style 5, 11, 64, 78, 114, 188; see also
Prelude to Tristan and Isolde (Wagner) 66 “Dance at the Gym” (West Side Story)
“Presto Bing Flip” (Gypsy) 146 Rodeo (Copland) 87
Preston, Robert 13 Rodgers, Mary 8, 10
Prince, Harold ‘Hal’ 26, 28, 50, 65, 67, Rodgers, Richard 5–10, 12–14, 16–24,
69–70, 81, 162 26–28, 33, 46–47, 53–54, 63, 69, 78,
Prokofiev, Sergei 108, 178 177, 187–88; see also Hammerstein II,
“Prologue” (West Side Story) 78, 85, Oscar; Hart, Lorenz
89–90, 96–97, 112–13, 119–20, 122–24, Romberg, Sigmund 14, 16, 25, 187
129, 186; orchestration of 109–11 Rome, Harold 7–8, 10, 12, 28, 60
Promises, Promises 188 Rondo from Piano Concerto in D
Proser, Monte 52 (Haydn) 51
“Psalm de profundi” (Candide) 90 Rosalia (character in West Side Story) 100,
“Push de Button” (Jamaica) 9, 11 102, 104, 117–18
Rose (character in Gypsy) 12, 135–39, 144,
“A Quiet Girl” (Wonderful Town) 28 146–47, 158–60, 162–75, 177–78, 186
A Quiet Place 61, 69, 91 Rose Marie 18
“Rose’s Turn” (Gypsy) 138–39, 143,
“The Race through the Desert” (The 159–60, 163–64, 175, 180, 183n70,
Exception and the Rule) 94 186–87; orchestration of 177–79;
Rachmaninov, Sergei 20 see also “Mama’s Turn” (Gypsy)
Rafter, Michael 159 Rosenstock, Milton 162
ragtime style 10, 15–16, 49, 68, 146, Rosenthal, Laurence 28, 68
165, 187 Ross, Jerry 7, 10–11, 28, 34, 67
Raksin, David 17 Roth, Allen 59
Ramin, Ron 59 Royal, Ted 14, 17, 26–27, 46, 162, 187
Ramin, Sid 2–3, 5, 14, 17, 27, 29, 35–36, Ruggles of Red Gap 168
43–44, 55, 57–61, 64–66, 68–70, 79–81, rumba style 11
83–85, 92–93, 95–103, 105–09, 114, “The Rumble” (West Side Story) 1, 78, 89,
119, 126, 129–30, 179–80, 182n67, 96–97, 102, 108, 111, 124, 126–27, 129,
186–88; on Gypsy orchestration 140–78; 186; orchestration of 122–23
see also orchestration Russell, Rosalind 13, 35, 48–49
Ravel, Maurice 108–9
“Recitation and Military” (Gypsy) 144, “The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl” (The Music
149, 166 Man) 68
Red, Hot and Blue! 26, 138 Saddler, Frank 13, 15, 18, 187
The Red Shoes 56, 61 Sail Away 69
 Index  199
“Salome” (Styne) 54 “So Long Baby” (On the Town) 26
Salta, Menotti 187 “Some Other Time” (On the Town) 46
“Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle” “Some People” (Gypsy) 139, 141–44, 146,
(Pictures at an Exhibition) 109 148–49, 152, 158, 178; orchestration of
“Sanctus” (Candide) 90 162–64
“Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of Something for the Boys 26
the Week” (Styne) 52 Something More! 56
Sauter, Eddie 188 “Something’s Always Happening on the
Say, Darling 55, 60, 64, 140 River” (Say, Darling) 55
“Scherzo” (West Side Story) 88, “Something’s Coming” (West Side Story)
124–25, 129 78–79, 84, 88, 96, 113; orchestration
Schönberg, Claude-Michel 188 of 112
Schubert, Franz 167 “Somewhere” (West Side Story) 1, 78–79,
Schwartz, Stephen 44, 188 88, 92–93, 116, 119, 124–26, 128–29
“Seattle to Los Angeles” (Gypsy) 146, 149 Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
“A Secretary Is Not a Toy” (How to (Bernstein) 70
Succeed in Business Without Really Sondheim, Stephen 2, 5, 8, 10, 12, 44, 50,
Trying) 65 60, 65, 69, 76–81, 84–86, 117, 121, 123,
Serenade (novel by Cain) 77 126–27, 135–39, 144, 158, 160, 162–63,
Serenade after Plato’s Symposium 165–68, 172–73, 177–78, 183n70, 188
(Bernstein) 87 Song of the Flame 18–19
“Seven-and-a-Half Cents” (The Pajama Sophie 60
Game) 64 The Sound of Music 8, 13–14, 19, 29, 32,
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 69 69, 130
1776 188 Sousa, John Philip 32–34, 152, 161, 166
Shall We Dance 19 South Pacific 7, 9, 13, 19
Shaw, Robert 20 Spialek, Hans 5, 14, 16–17, 20, 26–27, 187
She Loves Me 25, 28–29 “Standing on the Corner” (The Most
Shenandoah 29 Happy Fella) 28
Shinbone Alley 68 Stars and Stripes Forever (Sousa) 145,
“Shipoopi” (The Music Man) 68 152, 166, 169
“Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo” (Damn Staunton, Imelda 159
Yankees) 11–12, 67 “Steam Heat” (The Pajama Game) 11, 64
“shofar call” (West Side Story) 110–11, Stevens, Roger 81
119–20, 122–23; see also tritone “The Story of My Life” (Wonderful
Show Boat 6, 19–20, 55, 187 Town) 28
Shubert, Lee 53 Stravinsky, Igor 45–46, 49, 78, 122
“Siberia” (Silk Stockings) 68 Streisand, Barbra 56–57, 60, 69
Silk Stockings 7, 10, 12, 28, 68 Strike Up the Band 16
Sinatra, Frank 52, 55, 137 Strouse, Charles 64
“Sing, You Sinners” (Mr. Wonderful) 10 Sturges, Preston 53
Sirmay, Albert 47 Styne, Jule 2–3, 5, 7–8, 10, 14, 27, 31,
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue 61, 90, 95 43–44, 50–57, 59–61, 70, 78, 160–63,
Skilbeck, Nicholas 159 179–81n48, 182n67, 186–87; on lyrics
“Slap That Bass” (Crazy for You) 61 12; on musical capabilities 3, 135–40;
Small, Allan 53 on orchestration 50–57, 140–58,
“Small World” (Gypsy) 137–38, 140–41, 165–68, 172–73, 177–78; see also
143–44, 146, 148, 149, 150–51, 158–61, orchestration
164, 168, 179; orchestration of 164–65 Subways Are for Sleeping 56
Smile 61 Sugar 56
“Smile Girls” (Gypsy) 141, 153 Suite of Old American Dances (Bennett) 18
Smith, Oliver 45, 52 Sullivan, Arthur 26–27, 45, 55; see also
“Soliloquy” (Carousel) 177 Gilbert, W.S.
200 Index
“Sunday” (Styne) 51 “Together” (Gypsy) see “Together
“Surprise!” (Gypsy) 141, 153 Wherever We Go”
“The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” “Together Wherever We Go” (Gypsy)
(Oklahoma!) 21 140, 145–46, 148, 149, 150–51, 158;
Suskin, Steve 5, 13–14, 25, 27–28, 30, orchestration of 173–74, 182n66
35–36, 43, 52, 55, 60–66, 68, 82–83, “Tonight Quintet” (West Side Story) 78,
97–98, 141, 145–47, 162, 179, 181n48 85, 116, 127, 132n51, 186; orchestration
Suzuki, Pat 13 of 120–22
Sweeney Todd 188 Tony (character in West Side Story) 1,
“Sweet Thursday” (Pipe Dream) 8–9 78–79, 93, 112–16, 120–21, 123–28
“Swing” (Wonderful Town) 10, 29, 36, Tony Awards 7–9, 49
59, 94 “Toreador Song” (Carmen) 173
swing style 10–11, 25–26, 35–36, 46–49, “Toreadorables” (Gypsy) 146, 149, 173
55, 62, 114, 119–20; see also “Ain’t A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 13
It the Truth” (Jamaica); “Steam tresillo 11, 78, 112, 115, 168
Heat” (The Pajama Game); “Swing” Trial by Jury 26
(Wonderful Town) tritone 79, 110–11, 115, 120, 129; see also
Swing Time 19 “shofar call”
Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninov) 20 “The Trolley Song” (Meet Me in St.
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story Louis) 78
(Bernstein) 60, 97, 99, 129–30 Trouble in Tahiti 48, 79
Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah (Bernstein) 45, Tulsa (character in Gypsy) 154–56,
87, 104, 122 170–72, 187
Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety Tunick, Jonathan 16, 65, 188
(Bernstein) 45, 47, 87 “Two Lost Souls” (Damn Yankees) 11, 64
Symphony No. 3, Eroica (Beethoven) 108 Two on the Aisle 53
Symphony No. 3, Kaddish (Bernstein) 122
“Un Poco Loco” (Powell) 110
Tabori, George 56 “The Uncle Sam Rag” (Redhead) 10
Take Me Along 8 Uncle Tom’s Cabin 66
tango style 11, 33–34, 37, 67; see also
“Hernando’s Hideaway” (The Pajama vaudeville style 15, 26, 43, 65, 78, 126,
Game); “I Am So Easily Assimilated” 135–37, 139, 146, 151, 160–62, 164–65,
(Candide); “No Other Love” (Me and 168–69, 171, 173–74, 186–87; see also
Juliet); “Pick-Pocket Tango” (Redhead); “Gee, Officer Krupke” (West Side Story)
“Whatever Lola Wants” (Damn Verdi, Giuseppe 121
Yankees) Verdon, Gwen 9, 13
“Taunting Scene” (West Side Story) 96, 98; Vintage ’60 60, 65
orchestration of 128
“Tea for Two” (No, No, Nanette) 19 Wagner, Richard 66, 116
Teibele and Her Demon 56 Wahlberg, Betty 159
Teichmann, Howard 55 Wake Up Darling 54
Tenderloin 68–69 Walker, Don 2, 5, 14, 16–17, 24–29,
“There Goes That Song Again” (Styne) 52 33–34, 36–38, 46, 53–55, 59–64, 66–68,
“There Once Was a Man” (The Pajama 162, 181n48, 187
Game) 11 Walter, Bruno 45
“Things Get Broken” (Mass) 95 waltz style 10, 54, 123, 152, 155, 162,
“The Things We Did Last Summer” 170–71, 175
(Styne) 52 Warnick, Clay 27
Thompson, Randall 87 Weede, Robert 9
“Those Were the Good Old Days” (Damn Weill, Kurt 7, 10, 13–14, 16, 19, 47
Yankees) 67 Weiss, George 7, 54, 56
The Threepenny Opera 7, 9–10 West Side Story 1–3, 5–6, 8, 10–12, 14,
“Time After Time” (Styne) 52 17, 29, 38, 43–45, 49–50, 57, 59–60, 65,
 Index  201
68–70, 76–130, 135–36, 138–40, 142, Wonderful Town 2, 7, 9–14, 27–29, 34–37,
145, 177, 185–86, 188; on the number 48–49, 59, 64, 67, 79, 81, 90, 94, 110
of percussionists in pit 131n33 “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” (My Fair Lady) 29
“What a Waste” (Wonderful Town) 49 Wright, Robin 7, 10, 47
“Whatever Lola Wants” (Damn Yankees) “Wrong Note Rag” (Wonderful Town) 49
11, 64
Wheeler, Hugh 50 “Ya Got Trouble” (The Music Man) 28
Whiteman, Paul 16, 62–63 “You Are Love” (Show Boat) 19
“Who’s Got the Pain?” (Damn Yankees) 11 “You Did It” (My Fair Lady) 31
Wicked 188 “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” (Gypsy) 139,
Wilbur, Richard 8, 50 141, 143, 145–46, 149, 152, 158, 176–
Wildcat 60, 65 77, 186–87; orchestration of 174–75
Wildflower 18 “You’ll Never Get away from Me”
“Will I Ever Tell You” (The Music Man) 68 (Gypsy) 137–38, 140, 144, 146, 148,
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter 54 149, 150–51, 159–61, 179; orchestration
Willson, Meredith 8, 10, 28, 68 of 167–68
Wilson, Sandy 7
Wish You Were Here 7, 28 Ziegfeld Follies of 1957 80
“Without You” (My Fair Lady) 29–30 “Zip My Stripper” (Gypsy) 146
Wolpe, Stefan 66 Zorba 25, 29